COURSTEY TOI JULY 23

5 vehicles buried in landslide, car washed away in Sirmaur
Warning Of Heavy Rainfall Today
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Shimla:

Heavy rains lashed several parts of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, triggering landslides, blocking roads and disrupting electricity supply even as the region received deficit rains during the current monsoon season.

Parts of Sirmaur district were lashed by heavy rains and about 20 roads, including some state highways, were closed due to landslides and hundreds of vehicles were stranded on either side of road blocks.

Warning of heavy rainfall has been issued for lower and middle hills of Himachal Pradesh for Monday.

A car was washed away in a major landslide on the Dadahu-Koti-Deman road, while over four dozen roads, mostly in Sirmaur and Shimla distrits, were closed due to hill slips and heaps of debris on the roads.

A huge tree was uprooted near the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), but a major tragedy was averted as the tree hung on overhead power transmission lines disrupting power supply. The road remained closed for three hours, while power supply was restored by the evening.

In Solan district, five vehicles were buried in the landslide at Dharampur along Kalka-Shimla road.

According to Shimla meteorological centre, rain and thunder showers will occur in most places of state on Monday, many places on Tuesday and Wednesday and a few places from Thursday to Saturday.

According to sources, normal life has been thrown out of gear in rainfed areas in Sirmaur. Around a dozen routes are blocked in the district. In many places, landslides and falling boulders posed threat to motorists. Shillai-Ronhat road was blocked due to landslide.

On Saturday evening, landslide along Kalka-Shimla highway at Dharampur damaged four-five cars and two-three motocycles.

Officials said monsoon was normal in the state during the last 24 hours. Rainfall occurred at many places over the state during last 24 hours with isolated heavy rainfall in the district of Mandi, and isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall occurred Kangra and Sirmaur, they said.

They said no appreciable change in minimum temperatures has been recorded, however maximum temperatures decreased by 1 to 2 degrees Celsius during the last 24 hours