Monsoon carnage in Himachal Pradesh reached a serious level as 85 people lost their lives in the hill state in the latest report by the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA). Among them, 54 lives have been lost during the rain-caused disasters like landslides, flash floods and cloud bursts and again, out of them, another 31 persons have been killed due to the road accidents that were caused by the bad weather conditions.
Huge rainfall and its knock-on effects are still causing difficulties for the state. Over 200 roads were affected in the last 24 hours; this has significantly undermined transportation and the investigation of emergency activities. A very important affected road is National Highway NH 003, which links Mandi to Dharampur (Kotli). In conjunction with the latter, 192 distribution transformers (DTRs) have collapsed, and 740 water supply schemes are reported to be disturbed all over Himachal Pradesh.
The most adversely affected district is Mandi, which witnessed maximum blockage of roads (138) besides substantial destruction of power and water supply infrastructure as well. Kullu had reported 20 blocked roads, and Sirmaur and Kangra districts also recorded serious infrastructure collapse, since there were continuous downpours.
The State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) officials confirmed that all the emergency services are on high alert. Road access, electricity, and water supply rehabilitation are in progress in the affected areas. The SDMA has also advised the citizens not to travel to areas which are prone to landslides and areas which are located in high altitudes, as the weather department has already forecast that more rain is expected in the coming days.
The Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, on Wednesday, toured the flood-affected areas in the assembly constituency of Mandi district. He visited the displaced families and promised them total support from the state government. The Chief Minister also visited the relief camp at Bagsiad, and he got feedback regarding the ongoing relief and rehabilitation works.
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