Hailstorm, heavy rains lash Shimla on Friday morning

Shimla: Hailstorm followed by heavy rains lashed Shimla on Friday morning, causing inconvenience to school-going children.

Dark convective clouds overcast the sky, reducing visibility to a few metres and forcing vehicles to move at a snail's pace with headlights on.

The 40-minute' heavy downpour that started around 7:20 am flooded choked drains in the town, and garbage was scattered on the roads.

"The school buses were running late. I got totally drenched waiting for the bus," said Anjali, a class VI student.

Heavy rains were also witnessed in Solan and Mandi.

On Friday morning, the local MeT office predicted light to moderate rainfall accompanied with thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds (40-50 kmph) at many places in the districts of Bilaspur, Solan, Shimla, Sirmaur, Una, Hamirpur, Mandi and one or two spells of intense rainfall and hail at likely isolated places in next three hours.