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Seven families have been evacuated in Kholaksa, located about 3km from Losar in Lahaul and Spiti districts, following floods due to a melting glacier. But there were no reports of casualties.
The floods occurred late on Friday night, and agricultural lands were damaged. The seven families have been shifted to safer places, Deputy Commissioner Lahaul and Spiti Rahul Kumar told PTI on Saturday.
Local residents said that melting snow and glaciers have led to an alarming rise in water levels in several rivers and looms in the area, and efforts are underway to divert the water towards the wasteland.
The Spiti region experienced snowfall on July 9 and 10, and about 250 people, mostly tourists, were stranded in Chandertal Lake at an altitude of about 15,000 feet for six days. They were safely rescued on Thursday.
Himachal Pradesh has incurred losses of around Rs 8,000 crore as torrential rains wreaked havoc in the hill state, causing landslides, flash floods and damaging roads and other infrastructure, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sokho said on Saturday.
According to the state emergency response centre, the losses were around Rs 4,000 crore as of Friday night. Sukhu has sought a Rs 2,000 crore temporary relief from the Union Home Ministry.
After visiting the rain-ravaged Chamti district on the outskirts of Solan, Sokho said people who became homeless after damage to their homes due to the rains will be rehabilitated, and each affected family will be given a lakh rupees.
He said the losses and damages were enormous and left 70 families homeless, adding that such tragic incidents were reported from all over the state.
Sokho added that the government’s first task is to restore water and energy supplies and make the country self-reliant in the next four years. The prime minister said in a statement issued here that about 70,000 tourists have been evacuated from the state and 15,000 vehicles have been dispatched, while about 500 tourists have voluntarily decided to stay to return.
Some of the tourists stuck in Kasol, Manikaran and other nearby areas of Kullu district refused to go out without their vehicles and decided to stay behind for a few more days until the situation returns to normal and all roads are opened.
Due to severe landslide near Dunkhara on Kasol-Bhuntar road, vehicles could not be moved and tourists had to trek to reach the other side. However, the state government said that these tourists are being taken care of.
The statement stated that electricity, water and mobile phone services have been temporarily restored in 80 percent of the areas affected by the disaster, and efforts are underway to restore basic services in the remaining areas as soon as possible.
Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus service has been suspended on 899 routes and 256 buses are en route. Officials said HRTC incurred losses of Rs 5.56 crore.
Meanwhile, Governor Shiv Pratap visited Shukla Bandoh and Ott in Mandi district and interacted with those affected and inquired about relief and rehabilitation work being done by the department.
He also inspected a nearly 100-year-old bridge in Pandoh that was damaged by floods and announced donating a month’s salary to the relief fund.
The governor said there is a need to learn lessons from nature and there must be efforts to ensure that such damage does not occur in the future.
The local MeT office issued an ‘orange’ warning of heavy to very heavy rain in isolated locations in 10 of the state’s 12 districts, except for Lahaul, Spiti and Kinnaur, from July 15-17 and warned of the possibility of landslides, flash floods, and landslides. Clay and increased runoff in rivers and nullahs.
It also issued a “yellow” warning for heavy rain on July 18 and forecast a wet spell in the state until July 21.
The state has received 284.1mm so far in July, compared to normal precipitation of 110.4mm, an increase of 157 percent.
Light to heavy rains continued to lash parts of the state, with Dharamshala receiving 144mm of rain, followed by Palampur (51mm), Sundernagar and Nhan (45mm each), Kangra (27mm), Narkanda (22mm) and Mandi (17mm). .
(This story was not edited by the News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
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