Heavy rain continues to batter Himachal, 77 roads closed

Shimla: Heavy rains continue to lash several parts of Himachal Pradesh on Friday, leading to the closure of 77 roads for traffic.

The Shimla meteorological office has issued a ‘yellow’ alert, warning of heavy rains, thunderstorms and lightning at isolated places on Saturday.

Widespread rain occurred in the state in the past 24 hours.  Palampur was the wettest with 128 mm of rain followed by Kataula 110 mm, Baijnath 95 mm, Jogindernagar 64 mm, Mandi 40 mm, Kothi 36 mm, Kufri 33.2 mm, Shillaroo 32.5 mm, Dharamshala 26 mm, Manali 22 mm and Khadrala 21.6 mm, the weather office said.

Seventy-seven roads, including 67 in Mandi, seven in Chamba and one each in Kangra, Lahaul-Spiti and Shimla districts, are closed for traffic following torrential rains and 236 transformers are disrupted, according to the emergency operation centre.

On Thursday, Kukumseri in tribal Lahaul and Spiti recorded the lowest night temperature in the state at 11.6 degrees Celsius while Una was hottest during the day with a maximum temperature of 33.6 degrees Celsius.

So far, the state has received 43.2 mm of rain against the normal of 27.2 mm, an excess of 59 per cent in the month of July.