Cloudburst in Himachal's Bilaspur village leaves vehicles buried, farms ravaged
Himachal Pradesh Cloudburst: The village, which falls under the Naina Devi assembly constituency, experienced a cloudburst around 3 am; however, there were no casualties. Deputy Commissioner of Bilaspur, Rahul Kumar, stated that four vehicles were buried under the debris.
A recent cloudburst that occurred in Gutrahan in Bilaspur district in the early hours of Saturday, September 13, led to vehicles being trapped under debris and farms being ravaged, officials said. The village, which falls under the Naina Devi assembly constituency, experienced a cloudburst around 3 am; however, there were no casualties.
Deputy Commissioner of Bilaspur, Rahul Kumar, stated that four vehicles were buried under the debris, according to PTI. He also mentioned that the extent of crop damage is currently being evaluated, and relief measures will be initiated once the assessment report is submitted.
Officials promptly arrived at the scene upon receiving information about the incident and assessed the situation. Meanwhile, the Public Works Department (PWD) has started clearing the debris to restore traffic flow as soon as possible.
Kashmir Singh, a villager whose land and crops have been ruined, lamented floodwaters carrying debris swept through and spread across the agricultural fields.
Reports indicate that more than six houses were damaged by water and debris in the villages of Kamlari and Ghatasni, located in the Bhattiyat assembly constituency of Chamba district. In Hamirpur district, three families from the Dalit Basti area were forced to relocate to relatives' homes after the land near their houses began to subside due to heavy rainfall, putting their homes at risk.
Yellow alert in isolated areas of Himachal
Meanwhile, in Shimla, the state capital, dense fog reduced visibility to just a few metres, causing difficulties for motorists. The local meteorological department has issued a yellow alert for heavy rainfall in isolated areas of the state on Saturday and Sunday, the report added.
Light to moderate rainfall continued across various parts of the state. Palampur recorded the highest rainfall with 86 mm since Friday evening, followed by Murari Devi with 69.2 mm, Kangra 58.2 mm, Jogindernagar 45 mm, Dharamshala 31.2 mm, Aghar 16.8 mm, Naina Devi 16.6 mm, Nahan 14.6 mm, and Mandi 13.6 mm.
As of Saturday evening, 561 roads, including key stretches like the Attari-Leh section of National Highway-3, the Aut-Sainj section of NH-305, and the Amritsar-Bhota section of NH-503A, remained closed to traffic.
According to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), a total of 237 power transformers and 317 water supply schemes have been disrupted due to the recent floods and landslides. A total of 394 people have lost their lives in rain-related cases, including road accidents since the beginning of the monsoon over the state on June 20, while 41 are unaccounted for.
The state has endured a loss of ₹4,467 crore so far, according to officials.
(With inputs from PTI)