Himachal: Yellow alert for heavy rain till Aug 11; 112 roads closed, devotee killed

Shimla: The Shimla MeT office on Wednesday issued a yellow alert for heavy rain in isolated places across Himachal Pradesh till August 11.

A total of 112 roads are closed for vehicular traffic while 61 water supply schemes and 189 transformers were disrupted as of Wednesday evening, according to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC).

A maximum of 37 roads were blocked in Mandi, followed by 34 in Kullu, 29 in Sirmaur, eight in Kangra, four in Shimla, two in Una and one in Chamba district.


A devotee from Punjab was killed after a heavy stone crashed through the sunroof of the SUV he was travelling in near Mehla on the Chamba-Bharmour road in Himachal's Chamba district in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

According to the police, the boulder came down the hill and struck the top of the SUV, hitting one of the occupants directly.

The deceased, identified as Makhan Singh (40), a resident of Hoshiarpur in Punjab, was declared brought dead by the doctors at Pt Jawaharlal Nehru Government Medical College and Hospital, Chamba.

The vehicle with people on board was en route to Bharmour to undertake the Manimahesh yatra. The other three passengers were safe. The body was sent for a post-mortem examination, and family members of the victim have been informed about the tragedy, police said.

Heavy to very heavy rain lashed parts of the state in the past 24 hours since Tuesday evening, and Jatton Barrage received 135.4 mm, followed by Raipur Maidan 124.2 mm, Naina Devi 110.6 mm and Nahan 101.2 mm.

Dehra Gopipur received 97.2 mm rain, Nahan 64.8 mm, Nadaun 90 mm, Kangra and Ghamroor 76.2 mm, Murari Devi 66.6 mm, Dharamshala 60.1 mm, Neri 58.5 mm, Una 52 mm and Poanta Sahib 50.2 mm.

Thunderstorms and lightning lashed Kangra district. Kukumseri was coldest at night, recording a low of 13.2 degrees Celsius, while Una was hottest during the day with a high of 34.2 degrees Celsius.