Heavy rains, flashflood wreak havoc in Himachal
: Heavy rains and flashfloods wreaked havoc in parts of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday.
Director of state disaster management authority (SDMA) Sudesh Kumar Mokhta said three persons had a narrow escape after the car they were travelling in was swept away into a rivulet at Kunjahal village in Barotiwala area of Solan district in the morning when the water level suddenly rose following heavy showers.
The passengers were rescued by villagers. The car was passing through the stream when it was swept away for several metres by gushing waters and overturned.
In Kumarsain of Shimla, water and debris entered inside 20 houses after heavy rains triggered a flashflood.
No loss of life has been reported while damage to the property is being assessed, said Mokhta.
He said a landslide at Nauni in Bilaspur blocked the National Highway 21 in the morning hours which was later restored for the traffic by the PWD.
The weather department has predicted heavy to very heavy rains till July 20. A yellow alert has been sounded for July 18 and 19 while there is an orange alert for heavy rains on July 20.
Meanwhile, several parts of the state experienced heavy rains since Saturday night.
Sarhan got 82mm of rainfall while Berthin received 48mm rais and Bilaspur 4mm.
Ghumarwin and Jhandutta recorded 30mm rainfall each, Arki 23mm, Bijahi 22mm, Aghar and Baldwara 14mm each, Ponta and Dehra Gopipur 12mm each, Kandaghat, Tinder, Dalhousie, Banjar and Kheri 9mm each, Gohar and Kumarsain 8mm each, and Saloni, Shimla, Wangtoo, Kahu and Bhunter 7mm each.
Since the onset of monsoon on June 29, as many as 83 lives have been lost in the rain-related incidents while monetary losses are pegged at Rs 352 crore. Maximum 19 deaths have been reported from Kullu and 10 each from Mandi and Shimla.
PWD has suffered losses more than ₹232 crore while the Jal Shakti department ₹ 111 crore.