The toll due to landslides triggered by heavy rainfall in Himachal Pradesh rose to 60 on Tuesday, reported The Indian Express.
Two persons were killed on Tuesday when eight houses, including six makeshift ones, collapsed and a slaughterhouse was buried under the debris after a landslide in Shimla’s Krishna Nagar locality.
There is a possibility of two or more people being trapped under the debris, Shimla Deputy Commissioner Aditya Negi told PTI.
On Monday, two landslides occurred in Summer Hill and Fagli areas of Shimla. A total of 19 bodies have been recovered since then. However, more than 10 people are still feared trapped under the rubble of a temple that collapsed in Summer Hill, Shimla Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi said.
All schools and colleges in the state remained closed on Wednesday as well. The Himachal Pradesh University, which is located in Summer Hill, has suspended teaching activities till August 19. The university library, which has developed cracks, will remain closed till August 20.
Besides Shimla, several other parts of the state have reported landslides and flooding.
More than 800 people who live in low-lying areas near Pong dam were evacuated in Kangra district on Wednesday as their villages became inaccessible due to the elevated water level in the reservoir, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said in a tweet.
In Mandi district, 19 persons died in rain-related incidents till Monday, Deputy Commissioner Arindam Chaudhary told PTI.
Seven members of a family, including a two-year-old, were killed in a landslide late on Sunday night in Seghli panchayat while six bodies were recovered from Sambhal near Pandoh.
On Tuesday, Sukhu said that Himachal Pradesh has suffered extensive damage due to a nearly 157% surge in rainfall over the past few days.
He laid the blame for the massive damage on the intensity of the rains since Sunday and on the lack of “structural designing” in the state. He further claimed that this was the “first time” when about 50 people died in a single day, reported PTI.
At least 857 roads were blocked for vehicular traffic while 4,285 transformers and 889 water supply schemes have been disrupted in 11 out of 12 districts in the state.
According to the state emergency operation centre, Himachal Pradesh has suffered a staggering loss of Rs 7,171 crore since the onset of monsoon on June 24. A total of 170 incidents of cloudbursts and landslides have been reported this monsoon season, causing damage to about 9,600 houses.
Education Minister and Anandpur Sahib MLA Harjot Bains said that some villages have been “severely affected” due to the release of water from the Bhakra dam. “We are evacuating people in danger zones,” he said. “The district administration and the NDRF [National Disaster Response Force] are offering full assistance.”
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