Death toll in Mandi cloudburst mounts to 13, search underway for 29 missing

Shimla: With the recovery of two more bodies, the death toll in the cloudburst and flash flood-related incidents in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi has mounted to 13 while search is underway for 29 others missing, officials said on Thursday. Ten cloudbursts, three flash floods and a landslide were witnessed in different parts of Mandi district on Tuesday. Officials said two bodies were recovered this morning. While seven bodies were recovered from Gohar, five were from Thunag and one in Karsog subdivisions of Mandi district. Over 150 houses, 104 cattle sheds, 31 vehicles, 14 bridges and several roads were damaged in the calamities. A total of 162 cattle perished in the calamities, while 370 people, including 316 in Mandi, were rescued and five relief camps have been set up, the state emergency operation centre (SEOC), said.

The Manali-Keylong road was blocked following floods in a drain near Solang Nallah and the traffic has been diverted through Rohtang Pass. Men and machinery has been deployed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), officials said. A total of 261 roads, including 186 in Mandi district, are closed for traffic in the state while 599 transformers and 797 water supply schemes have been disrupted due to heavy rains in the past few days, the SEOC added. Both Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur had visited the affected areas on Wednesday. Sukhu assured locals that if any government land is available nearby, it will be allotted to those who lost their homes. "In case the land falls under forests, the matter will be taken up with the Union government," he added. Thakur said the number of missing people could rise.

Rations should be air-dropped in areas where roads have been damaged, he said. Two teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), alongside police and home guards, are actively engaged in search and rescue operations in the district. Moderate to heavy rains, meanwhile, continued to lash parts of Himachal Pradesh. Pachhad in Sirmaur district received 133.3 mm rain since Wednesday evening followed by Mehra Barsar 92 mm, Jubbarhatti 59.4 mm, Jatton Barrage 566 mm, Una 55.2 mm, Baijnath 55 mm, Brahmani 42.2 mm, Baggi 37.5 mm, Murari Devi 34.6 mm and Kangra 32.6 mm. The weather office has issued an orange alert, warning of heavy to very heavy rains in isolated areas across the state for five days from July 5 to 9 and warned of low to moderate flash-flood risk in parts of six districts of Kangra, Mandi, Hamirpur, Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur in the next 24 hours.