The pace of monsoon has been slow in the state for the last seven days and light rainfall has been recorded in most areas. Now the Meteorological Department has issued a warning of heavy rain for the next six days.
Heavy rainfall has been predicted in many parts of Kangra and Mandi districts of the state from July 18.
Monsoon is expected to be most active between July 19 and 22. Orange alert of very heavy rainfall has been issued in Kangra, Shimla, Mandi, Hamirpur, Chamba, Una, Bilaspur, Kullu, Solan, Sirmaur and Lahaul-Spiti for this period. The Meteorological Department has advised people to be extra cautious in view of the possibility of flash floods, cloud bursts and landslides.
According to the Meteorological Department, there will be a yellow alert regarding the possibility of heavy rainfall at different places in the state on Saturday, July 18. Orange alert has been issued due to the possibility of heavy to very heavy rainfall at many places on July 19, 20, 21 and 22.
On July 23 also, there will be a yellow alert again regarding the possibility of heavy rainfall at different places in the state. During this period, avoid going to the banks of rivers and streams, do not make unnecessary movements in landslide-prone areas and take the latest information about the weather before traveling during bad weather.
Due to weak rainfall in the state for the last few days, people are facing humidity. On Friday, the average minimum temperature of the state was recorded about 1.4 degrees Celsius above normal. Its effect was also visible on the night temperature and at many places the nights were warmer than normal.
Light rainfall occurred only at a few places in the state during the last 24 hours. The highest rainfall of 28.8 mm was recorded at Nagrota Suriyan in Kangra district. Apart from this, there was 10.2 mm rainfall in Kangra, 4.0 mm rainfall in Murari Devi of Mandi district and 2.8 mm rainfall in Gular of Kangra district. 2.4 mm rainfall was recorded in Palampur and 2.1 mm rainfall was recorded in Dharamshala.
Last week, a large number of roads were closed due to heavy rains and landslides in many areas. Their restoration work is still going on. According to the State Emergency Operation Center, as of Friday, about 50 roads are still closed due to landslides in the state. Of these, maximum 28 roads are blocked in Kullu district alone and work to restore these roads is going on.