Himachal Pradesh cloudburst death toll mounts to 22, over 100 roads closed

The death toll from cloudburst-triggered flash floods in Himachal Pradesh has reached 22, with rescue operations ongoing to find over 30 missing people.

Himachal Pradesh

The flash floods were reported in Kullu's Nirmand, Sainj and Malana, Mandi's Padhar and Shimla's Rampur. The worst hit was Samej village in Rampur subdivision, where about 25 people went missing.

Nine bodies have been recovered from Mandi's Rajbhan village, three from Nirmand and Bagipul in Kullu district and 10 from Samej and surrounding areas of Dhadkol, Bro and Sunni Dam in Shimla district.

Twelve out of the 22 bodies have been identified so far and DNA samples for others are being taken for identification of the bodies.

Incessant rain in the state has caused landslides and the closing of over 100 roads in Himachal Pradesh.

A total of 109 roads, including 37 in Mandi, 29 in Shimla, 26 in Kullu, six in Kangra, four each in Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti, two in Sirmaur and one in Hamirpur, are closed while 58 transformers and 15 water supply schemes are disrupted, as per the state emergency operation centre.

Furthermore, as the rains continued to pound the region, the local meteorological office issued an orange alert of heavy to very heavy rainfall, thunderstorm and lightning at isolated places in the state for Saturday.

The weather office has also cautioned of low to moderate flash flood risk in isolated parts of Kangra, Sirmaur, Chamba, Shimla, Kullu, Kinnaur, Solan and Mandi districts in the next 24 hours.

The Met also said that monsoon activity is likely to intensify in the next five to six days with fairly widespread rains.

Over 650 rescuers from teams of the Army, NDRF, SDRF, ITBP, CISF, Himachal Pradesh Police and home guards are involved in the search and rescuers have intensified the search operation by deploying more machinery, sniffer dog squads, drones and other equipment.

Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan said that the Army has intensified its rescue operations.

“In response to the devastating cloudburst that struck Samej Village in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, extensive rescue operations are currently in progress. The civilian administration has deployed 10 heavy-duty excavators to aid in the efforts. Additionally, the Army has deployed two drones to assist in the search and rescue operations. Medical assistance has been provided to 65 patients affected by the disaster. Tragically, one body was recovered near the Lunhari area in the Sutlej River by the state administration,” he said.

A total of 94 people were killed in rain-related incidents between June 27 and August 7 and the state suffered losses amounting to Rs 787 crore, according to the officials.