Rain fury: 3 shops, bridge washed away by flash floods in Kullu; Kinnaur Kailash Yatra called off

Shimla, Aug 19 (PTI) Flash floods, triggered by an overnight cloudburst, washed away a bridge and three shops in Kanon village, Kullu district, Himachal Pradesh, officials said on Tuesday.

Due to continuous rains causing landslides in several areas, the district administration has closed all educational institutions, including schools, colleges, and anganwadi centres, in the Kullu and Banjar subdivisions on Tuesday.

This decision was taken to ensure the safety of students, said Torul S Raveesh, Deputy Commissioner and Chairperson, District Disaster Management Authority, Kullu, adding that a cremation ground was washed away in the district, besides partial damage to a house.

In Shimla, around 40 individuals, including a minister, MLAs, their staff and other government employees, were evacuated and shifted to safer locations late on Monday night after a massive landslide struck close to Ramchandra Chowk.

Town and Country Planning and Technical Education Minister Rajesh Dharmani, Congress MLAs Ramkumar Chaudhary and Ashish Butail evacuated their official residences in Shimla following the landslide.

While no casualties were reported, parts of a building's roof were damaged, and trees were uprooted in the Chota Shimla area near Ashiyana Regency.

Sub-divisional officers of Kullu and Banjar reported cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides in their respective jurisdictions. These resulted in road blockages, footbridges being washed away and other similar damages, they said.

Heavy rains damaged a footbridge, a shop and a vehicle, besides agricultural land in Shilhabudhani and Tarswan gram panchayats in Padhar area of Mandi district.

According to Shilhabudhani pradhan Prem Singh and Tarswan pradhan Jai Singh, all the nalas in the area are in spate, and the residents have moved to safer places last night.

The Kinnaur district administration on Tuesday called off the Kinnaur Kailash Yatra-2025 with immediate effect, given the continuous heavy rainfall, shooting stones and dense fog.

Issuing an official order on Tuesday, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kinnaur, Dr Amit Kumar Sharma, said that given the persistent bad weather and forecasts of further rain and cloudy conditions in the coming five to seven days, immediate precautionary measures were essential for public safety.

Exercising powers under Section 34 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, Sharma announced that the yatra would remain closed for the rest of the year unless modified by further orders.

According to the deputy commissioner's orders, any pilgrim attempting the yatra route will be escorted back to the base camp, and violators will face action under the Disaster Management Act. The Superintendent of Police (SP) Kinnaur has been instructed to ensure adequate deployment of forces in coordination with the home guards and the DCF Kinnaur to facilitate the safe return of pilgrims.

Moderate to heavy rains lashed several locations across Himachal Pradesh. Jubberhatti in the suburbs of Shimla city recorded 117 mm rainfall since Monday night, followed by Solan and Amb 56 mm each, Shimla 54 mm, Bhuntar 46.8 mm, Bilaspur 40.2 mm, Kasol 33 mm, Seobagh 32 mm, Kothi 25.4 mm and Bhareri 23 mm.

The local meteorological office has issued a 'yellow' warning for heavy rains at isolated places in the state till August 25, barring August 20 and 21.

A total of 357 roads were closed for vehicular traffic in the state, including National Highway 305 (Aut-Sainj road), on Tuesday evening. Of these, 179 roads were in Mandi district and 105 in the adjoining Kullu, said the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC).

According to the SEOC, 872 power supply transformers and 140 water supply schemes have been disrupted.

Since the onset of the monsoon in Himachal Pradesh on June 20, the state has suffered losses totalling Rs 2,211 crore due to rain-related incidents, officials said on Tuesday evening.

Officials noted that the state has experienced 74 flash floods, 38 cloudbursts, and 72 major landslides so far, resulting in around 143 fatalities with 37 individuals still reported as missing. PTI COR BPL MPL MPL