3 die in Shimla in house collapse, landslide; rain red alert for 2 days, 5 national highways shut

Shimla: Three people, including a 35-year-old man and his daughter, were killed overnight in two separate incidents of landslides in Shimla as heavy rain pounded the state in several places. Shimla district, which has received 115.8 mm of rain since Sunday evening, has been the worst-hit. Six trains playing on the Shimla-Kalka track have been cancelled following landslips, and 793 roads are closed in the state. The local Met office on Monday issued a red alert, warning of extremely heavy rain in isolated areas in four to six districts till Tuesday. A landslide overnight killed Virender Kumar and his ten-year-old daughter in the Dubloo area of Junga on the outskirts of Shimla town.

Virender's wife, who was outside the house, survived. In another incident, an elderly woman was buried early Monday after her house in Chol Village of Shimla's Kotkhai area collapsed on her. She was identified as Kalawati, and her body was retrieved from the debris. Another house collapsed in the Chauras area of Sirmaur. A woman went missing, while ten people of four families were evacuated in Dyal Mori village of Rohru area of Shimla district late Sunday night following a landslide. A rise in the level of the Shikdi rivulet has caused panic among people living near it. "Four families were residing in three houses. The landslide completely buried two cowsheds and endangered adjoining houses," Rohru Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Ramesh Dhamotra said. After the rescue, families of Kuldeep, Sandeep, Pradeep, and Sonfu Ram were housed elsewhere in the same village, he said. A wall of Shimla's Portmore Government Model School collapsed. A tree was on the verge of being uprooted and loomed precariously above a transformer, a residential building, and staff quarters of Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited.

Landslides in different parts of the state capital led to outages and disruption in water supply. The water supply would continue to be hit in the coming days due to high turbidity. Landslides happened at multiple locations in Solan district and hit railway operations. According to Railways, train numbers 52451, 52453, and 52459 scheduled to depart from Kalka to Shimla, and 52452, 52454 and 52460 from Shimla to Kalka stood cancelled. The train run will not resume until the track is cleared and declared safe for operations, an official said. The Chandigarh-Manali National Highway was blocked after a huge mountain slide near Mansar on Monday morning. "Educational institutions were closed in most of the district on Monday," Education Minister Rohit Thakur said. Thakur, who is also the local MLA from Jubbal-Kotkhai, the heart of the apple belt, said about 1.30 crores of apple boxes (50 per cent of the apple produce) have been transported to the markets. Light snowfall happened in Sarchu and Chandertal of the Lahaul and Spiti district, leading authorities to issue a cautionary advisory to commuters. Since Sunday evening, heavy to extremely heavy rains have lashed several parts of the state. Nangal Dam received 220 mm of rain, the highest, followed by Raipur Maidan 215 mm, Naina Devi 192 mm, Solan 187 mm, Nahan 177.8 mm, Jatton Barrage 170 mm, and Kasauli 135 mm. Dadahu received 134 mm of rain, Malraon 132 mm, Rohru 130 mm, Dharampur 124.6 mm, Una 117.4 mm and Shimla 115.8 mm, Paonta Sahib 109.6 mm, Kandaghat 108.2 mm, Jubbarhatti 108 mm, and Berthin 102 mm of it. A total of 793 roads, including NH 3 (Mandi-Dharampur road), NH 305 (Aut-Sainj), NH 5 (Old Hindustan-Tibet road), NH 707 (Hatkoti to Poanta road), and NH 907 (Poanta to Yamuna Nagar), were blocked in 10 out of 12 districts in the state, the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) said..No update was available from Chamba and Shimla. At least 266 roads were closed in Mandi, 177 in the Kullu district. As many as 2,174 power transformers and 365 water supply schemes have been disrupted across the state, according to the SEOC. From the onset of monsoon in the state on June 20, Himachal Pradesh has witnessed 91 flash floods, 45 cloudbursts and 95 major landslide incidents. In all, 320 people have died in rain-related incidents and road accidents, SEOC data showed. As many as 4,098 houses have been fully or partially damaged. The state has suffered losses to the tune of Rs 3,056 crore this monsoon.