5monthold dies as rain triggers landslides in HP

SHIMLA : A five-month old child died in a landslide as heavy rains wreaked havoc in Himachal Pradesh, disrupting normal life in many parts of the state and severing road links in Kangra district.

The baby was buried alive when a landslide destroyed a house in Chirgaon area of Rohru in Shimla district on Tuesday while Kangra, Dharamshala and Palampur received heavy rainfall leading to flooding of roads and houses.

All rivers and their tributaries are in spate while nullahs are overflowing in several parts of Kangra district. The Dharamshala-McLeod Ganj road was blocked due to a massive landslide. Link roads were also affected at most places in interior areas of Kangra. Meanwhile, heavy rains have increased the silt level in Satluj river and gates of 1,200 Karcham-Wangtoo and 1,500 Natpha Jhakri project are being opened for flushing out the silt.

HEAVY RAIN TODAY, TOMORROW, SAYS MET

The local MeT department has also warned of heavy rains in lower and mid hills on July 19 and 20 and heavy rains and snow in high hills on July 19.

Palampur received 192 mm of rain in the past 24 hours and was the wettest in the region followed by Jogindernagar (160 mm), Banjar (145 mm), Kheri (140 mm), Nagrotasurian (132 mm), Dharamshala (125 mm), Baijnath (122 mm), Hamirpur (78 mm) and Gaggal (69 mm). Kasauli and Bhoranj received 22 mm rainfall each.PTI