Shimla, July 16 -- Restoration of essential services accelerated in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday following recent monsoon-related disruptions, with the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) reporting a sharp decline in the number of blocked roads, power outages and water supply interruptions, even as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast another active spell of rainfall from July 18.

According to the SEOC evening report issued on Thursday, 50 roads remained blocked across the state, down from 51 in the morning and 53 on July 15. All National Highways are open to traffic.

Power restoration recorded the sharpest improvement during the day, with the number of disrupted Distribution Transformer Regions (DTRs) falling from 75 ...