One killed in Himachal’s Sirmaur after cloudburst triggers flash flood

A 37-year-old lost his life after a cloudburst triggered flash floods in Himachal’s Sirmaur district early Thursday morning as several parts of the state received heavy rain since Wednesday night.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) also issued a low to moderate flash flood alert for Sirmaur, Kangra, Chamba, Solan, Kullu, Shimla and Mandi districts of the state, as an orange alert of heavy rain was sounded in various parts of the state.

The cloudburst was reported at around 3 am in the Parduni forest area of Sirmaur district. The victim, identified as Rangi Ram, 37, was a resident of Parduni village. Reportedly, the subsequent flash floods destroyed five shops, two small bridges, two water mills, and a shed.

IMD officials said light to moderate rain occurred at many places, heavy to heavy rain occurred at few places while extremely heavy rain occurred at isolated places over the state during the last 24 hours.

During the last 24 hours, Dhaula Kuan in Sirmaur recorded the highest rainfall of 27 cm followed by Paonta (Sirmaur) with 17 cm rainfall, Guler in Kangra with 13 cm and Nahan in Sirmaur with 9 cm rainfall.

So far 339 people have lost their lives in Himachal during the monsoon season and over 500 have been injured. Of the total deaths reported, 154 persons have lost lives in road accidents. With 51 deaths, Kangra has reported the highest number of deaths during the monsoon, followed by 50 in Mandi and 49 in Shimla.

On Thursday, as many as 53 roads were reported blocked in the state including a national highway. Of them, 32 roads were blocked in Sirmaur district followed by 10 roads in Kangra. The weather office in Shimla has also predicted more rainfall in parts of the state on Friday and a yellow alert has been sounded in various districts.