Six dead, 10 injured in Himachal floods

HIMACHAL PRADESH: Six people have died and around 10 people have been injured in heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh that triggered landslides and flash floods in several places in the State, according to official estimates. Onkar Chand Sharma, Principal Secretary, Disaster Management, Himachal Pradesh today said, "Six people have died till now and around 10 people are injured. A total of 303 animals have died. The complete report is still awaited.

"The loss due to rain is expected to be Rs 3 crore. Meanwhile, 124 roads have been damaged which includes two national highways," the senior Disaster Management official said.

Long queues of vehicles were seen on the Chandigarh-Manali highway at 7 Mile in Mandi. Aerial shots showed vehicles moving at a snail's pace or at standstill further ahead. Owing to severe weather conditions with incessant rain on Sunday, the Mandi-Kullu National Highway (NH) was blocked by the Mandi police. The alternative route of the Mandi-Joginder Nagar Highway was also blocked on Sunday by the local police.

"We are trying our best to open the road within three hours. People who are facing problems are being sent by other buses: Sakini Kapoor, SHO, Mandi A flash flood hit the Bagipul area of the State's Mandi district, with over 200 people including tourists and locals stranded, police said on Sunday. Sanjeev Sood, Deputy Superintendant of Police Padhar, Mandi District Police told ANI that people are being evacuated to safer places in the region. According to Onkar Chand Sharma, the administration had held on June 21 meeting with the line departments and duty commissioners to discuss preparations for the monsoon. Officials of the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, the Central Water Commission (CWC) and those from the Civil Defence, as well as the India Meteorological Department (IMD), were present at the meeting.

"The state has been receiving monsoon rains for the past 3 days. We have been getting updates of heavy rain, flash floods and landslides from various parts of the state," Onkar Chand Sharma said. "A total of 151 DTR services has been disrupted. Six water supply schemes have also been affected. We have reports of one fire incident so far," the official said. Sharma said rescue operations for those stranded in the adverse disaster conditions are being undertaken and urged people to follow protocols and warnings issued by the state.

"Several tourists have been rescued with the help of the locals. We request all tourists coming here follow all the guidelines issued by the state government and Disaster Management," he said. The Principal Secretary, Disaster Management said that in the Mandi-Pandoh area there is a traffic jam with a large number of vehicles stuck since Sunday.

"The Mandi-Pandoh NH is currently affected by roadblock conditions. We have attempted to divert some of the traffic to other roads. However, due to small road capacities, the traffic is jamming up again. SDRF and police officials are present at the scene," he said. The official said that Mandi-Parashar area has suffered flash floods where stranded people were rescued. The NDRF, SDRF and Civil Defence officials have been pre-positioned in several areas and are ready to carry out rescue operations and other relief measures from wherever we receive alerts," Onkar Chand Sharma said.

The official said that an alert issued in the state will continue for another 24 hours. "We should be prepared for these incidents throughout the monsoon season, this is just the onset. The people are alerted through IMD and District administration. We also encourage people to download the SACHET app through which they will be notified of local as well as national disaster alerts," the official said.

He added that restoration work will be ongoing and the authorities will remain alert for reports of any new damages or disasters. "The restoration work is consistently going on. As rainfall reduces, the 124 roads will be restored. However, since heavy rainfall will persist, we are also on alert for more damage to the roads and water supplies, so that we can begin restoring them immediately," he added.