Restoration work has intensified after the monsoon rains in Himachal Pradesh. The number of closed roads has come down to 152, although Mandi is the most affected. Electricity and water supply has improved. Incidents of floods and road accidents have also come to light in Chamba.
Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [भारत]July 29 (ANI): Restoration of essential services gained momentum on Wednesday after heavy monsoon rains in Himachal Pradesh. Due to large-scale cleaning operations being conducted by the authorities, the number of closed roads has come down to 152.
According to the State Disaster Operation Center (SEOC), the number of roads closed across the state came down to 152 as of 6 pm on July 29, up from 192 a day earlier. At present no national highway is closed. Mandi district is the worst affected with 58 closed roads. This is followed by Kullu (31), Chamba (30), Sirmaur (14) and Shimla (14).
Improvement in electricity and water supply also
Electricity supply also improved significantly during the day. The number of Disrupted Distribution Transformer Regions (DTRs) reduced to 72 from earlier 189. 59 DTRs are affected in Chamba, 8 in Mandi and 5 in Sirmaur. The situation of drinking water supply also showed improvement and the number of disrupted water supply schemes reduced from 80 to 68. Maximum 23 schemes are affected in Hamirpur, followed by Bilaspur (18), Mandi (16) and Chamba (15).
Flood and road accident in Chamba
Meanwhile, SEOC’s 24-hour incident report recorded three major incidents in Chamba district during the last 24 hours. These include two flash floods and one road accident.
28 houses, a cow shed and a shop were damaged in Sultanpur due to flash floods in Oberi village of Patwar circle Sultanpur and Geoti village of Patwar circle Haripur. Due to this flood, a road in Haripur was also closed. There is no news of anyone being injured or killed in these flood incidents. According to SEOC report, five people lost their lives in a separate road accident in Lahar in Dalhousie tehsil.
15 people have died so far in monsoon
The overall data of the monsoon season from June 30 to July 29 shows that 15 people have lost their lives in rain-related incidents in Himachal Pradesh. Of these, 14 deaths were caused by landslides, including 13 in Lahaul and Spiti and one in Chamba, while one person died in flash floods in Kangra. So far, there has been no report of any death due to cloud burst.
State disaster management officials said restoration and clean-up work was continuing on a war footing. Emergency response teams are on round-the-clock alert to deal with any new monsoon-related emergency. (ANI)
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