India, July 29 -- Rain lashed parts of northern India on Tuesday, triggering landslides and flash floods in the Himalayan states. The IMD has forecast above-normal rainfall over northwest and central India in the next 4-5 days, fairly widespread rainfall in eastern India in the next 5-6 days, and isolated to scattered rainfall across Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura, and the southern peninsula. The Himalayan states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh were among the worst affected. In Himachal, moderate to heavy rains caused landslides in Chamba district, where about a dozen vehicles and many houses were buried in debris. However, no loss of life has been reported so far.
According to the state emergency operation centre (SEOC), a total of 108 roads were closed due to landslides and flash floods triggered by torrential rains on Monday evening, while 38 water supply schemes and nine transformers have been disrupted. The Met office said there was a moderate flash-flood threat in a few watersheds and neighbourhoods in seven out of 12 districts in the state, namely Chamba, Kangra, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Sirmaur and Solan, in the next 24 hours. An orange warning was issued for heavy to very heavy rains in isolated areas of four to five districts of Himachal Pradesh till July 30 and on August 3.
In Uttarakhand, heavy rains continued to batter the hilly state. Officials suspended the Char Dham Yatra for two days due to landslides blocking pilgrimage routes and a heavy rain alert, an officer said. Garhwal Commissioner Anand Swaroop said the Char Dham Yatra has been suspended for Tuesday and Wednesday for the safety of pilgrims. The yatra routes have been blocked at several locations due to landslides and a heavy rainfall alert has also been issued by the weather department, he said. The pilgrimage will resume once the weather conditions improve and the routes are deemed safe, the officer said. Rains also lashed many places in Punjab and Haryana, bringing relief from the ongoing hot weather.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.