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As the weather improved in parts of northern India, which had been wracked by torrential rain for several days, authorities on Wednesday worked in full swing to rescue stranded tourists, restore vehicular traffic on arterial roads and prevent flood waters from entering new areas.
In Punjab and Haryana, at least 15 people have died in rain-related accidents, according to government data.
The state government said as many as 2,000 tourists stranded in Kasol, Himachal Pradesh state, have been evacuated and more than 300 tourist vehicles have been stranded in Lahaul after landslides and floods left for their destinations.
Teams are working tirelessly to clear the Dhinkara landslide on the Kasol-Bhuntar road. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sokho said in a tweet that the district administration is coordinating relief efforts. He said more than 300 tourist vehicles stuck in Lahaul also left for their destinations.
Sokho had said on Tuesday that all stranded tourists would be evacuated by Wednesday and that six helicopters had been deployed to carry out the task. He also said that the state of the hill suffered an estimated loss of Rs 4,000 crore due to the rains.
A total of 873 roads remain closed to vehicular traffic, according to officials. Light to heavy rains hit parts of Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday with Daula Kawan recording 144.5 mm of rain, Renuka 87 mm, Rekungpyo 42 mm, Kotkhai 30 mm, Hamirpur 16.5, Shimla 13.5, Dharamshala 13 mm and Kalpa 10 mm, according to the local. Meteorology Department. The Met Office has issued a “yellow” warning for heavy rain, thunderstorms and lightning on July 15 and 16 in the state.
A person was electrocuted while wading through a water-filled street in a residential colony in Ambala district, police in Haryana said, and three dead bodies were found floating in the waters in the city of Ambala on Wednesday.
Ambala district was worst affected in Haryana state, which was lashed by heavy rains between Saturday and Monday.
Officials said Prime Minister Manohar Lal Khattar would visit Ambala on Wednesday to assess the situation in the region. The continuous rains flooded homes and severely damaged crops and vegetables in many areas. The overflowing waters of the Yamuna River inundated vast tracts of farmland in Karnal district.
Officials said nearly 10,000 people in Punjab have so far been evacuated in the districts of Patiala, Rupnagar, Muga, Ludhiana, Mohali, SBS Nagar and Fattigarh Sahib. According to government data, the death toll due to rain-related accidents in Haryana and Punjab has reached 15.
Ambala, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Patiala, Rupnagar, Jalandhar, SBS Nagar and Mohali are some of the affected districts in the two states.
The two governments set up relief shelters in several areas of the two states.
The weather remained clear in most places for a second day in the region on Wednesday.
With input from PTI
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