Shimla, July 31: Four persons, including a father-son duo, have been killed in rain-related incidents in Himachal Pradesh where several roads are blocked due to landslides, an official said. In Chamba district, a man and his five-year-old son were killed when a boulder fell on their motorcycle today at the Chamba-Bharmaur area, the in-charge of the state emergency control room said. The boy died on the spot while the man succumbed to injuries during treatment, he said.
In Kangra district, a 12-year-old boy was swept away in a flash flood at Jabbar Khud while a tourist from Jalandhar, Tinku, drowned in the swollen Beas river near the Kaleshwar temple, the official said. Landslides triggered by rains occurred at interior areas of Shimla, Mandi, Kullu, Chamba and Kangra districts, he said.
The official said several trucks loaded with apples are stranded in Shimla and Kullu districts.
Meanwhile, the Met department said the state had recorded an 18 per cent deficit in rainfall between June 1 and July 30.
The state has received 328.4 mm of rains against the normal 399.7 mm in the current monsoon season, it said Kullu received 366.2 mm rainfall, 14 per cent more than the normal and Kangra 801.6 mm, 13 per cent more than the normal, the Met department said..
Mandi district had 10 per cent excess rains while the deficit was two per cent in Shimla, it said.
Lahaul and Spiti received 62 per cent less rains than the normal followed by Chamba (-39 percent), Bilaspur (-35 per cent),Kinnaur (-34 per cent), Solan (-21 per cent), Sirmaur (-19 per cent), and Hamirpur and Una (-17 per cent).
Moderate rains occurred at several places in the low and mid hills and Dharampur received 54mm rainfall followed by Dharamshala 52mm, Kheri and Kandaghat 26mm each, Sundernagar, Hamirpur and Sarahan 21 mm each, Tissa 19mm, Bharari 15mm, Manali 13mm and Jogindernagar 11mm.
Maximum temperature dropped by three to four degrees and Una recorded a high of 30.4 degrees Celsius against 35 degrees Celsius yesterday.
Manali recorded a low of 10 degrees Celsius, 6.3 degrees below the normal while Mandi and Kalpa recorded night temperatures at 14.4 degrees Celsius.
The local MeT office has warned of heavy rains at isolated places in the mid and low hills during the next 48 hours.
Source DNA India
