The state of Himachal Pradesh has seen hefty rains during the past few days. Not only this, the higher reaches of the state have also experienced snowfall activity during the same time-period. Moreover, these mammoth rains have also claimed eight lives resulting in around 120 people being stranded. Among the missing, there are 45 IIT Roorkee students who remain missing.
While all the three states were affected due to these rains, it was Himachal Pradesh which faced the most wrath in the form of landslides, hefty showers, snow as well as flash floods in many parts of the state.
Due to hefty showers, schools have been closed today in Kinnaur, Kullu and Kangra districts. Moreover, many rivers are flowing close to danger levels. Due to landslides, road connectivity has been affected with over 350 roads being closed including Chandigarh-Manali as well as the Pathankot-Chamba highway. Not only this, Manali has also been cut-off from Kullu.
Chamba administration has also advised all the residents to stay away from water bodies, as water will be released from the Chamera dam.
The mountainous terrain behaves quite differently as compared to the plains meteorologically. Once the weather system is in the hills, the movement is not smooth, and the remnants get trapped resulting in prolonged which was the case in Himachal this time.
Moreover, all the water bodies keep responding to the rains that have already occurred which will keep the situation grim for some more time. In fact, due to the current season, snow also melts causing more water flow. Thus, while the rains will reduce and only remain on the lesser side, the situation will remain watchful for another 24 hours, improving thereafter.
The relief and rescue operations have remained in full swing with the Indian Air Force being able to rescue at least a score who were stranded on islets in the swollen Beas river. In fact, there has been deployment of Army units along the Beas, Ravi and Sutlej rivers. Moreover, villages close to the Sutlej River are on high alert with families being evacuated from low-lying areas.
As per media reports, over 49,000 cusecs of water will be released from the Pong Dam in Kangra district today as the water level in the dam is nearing the danger mark.
Good news here is that the rescue operations in Jammu and Kashmir as well as Himachal Pradesh worked in good co-ordination and were in tandem with one another which did reduce the damage potential.
Image Credit: Rains in India
Please Note: Any information picked from here must be attributed to skymetweather.com
