Schools will be closed in Kangra, Mandi, Solan and Sirmaur districts on June 30 in light of the “red” alert issued by the Met office on Sunday for heavy to very heavy rainfall, ordered Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh.
The decision has been taken after Sukhu directing the deputy commissioners of these four districts in order to have students’ safety. Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra, Mandi, Shimla, Solan, Sirmaur, Una, Kullu and Chamba are 10 out of 12 districts under “red” alert.
What does the Met office say?
According to the Met office, in an updated notification on Sunday, “heavy to very heavy rains are likely to occur at a few places in the districts of Kangra, Mandi, Solan and Sirmaur, isolated places in Una, Bilaspur, Hamirpur and Shimla districts and heavy rainfall is likely at isolated places in Kullu and Chamba districts till Monday evening.”
It has cautioned of waterlogging, landslides, damage to vulnerable structures, traffic snarls and hinderances in important services.
Excluding the IIT-Mandi, the Lal Bahadur Shastri Government Medical College and Hospital and other medical colleges, all government and private educational institutions in the Mandi district have been notified of holiday, DC Apoorva Devgan stated.
Kangra DC Hemraj Bairwa also announced a holiday for all educational institutions in the district, except residential ones.
Shimla-Kalka rail line services were stopped for hours until the wreckage, including fallen trees after rains were cleared.
In the last 24 hours, three deaths have been recorded following rain-related cases, bringing the number of fatalities to 20 since the beginning of the monsoon in the state. The State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) mentioned Una and Bilaspur districts reported drowning incidents, each, whereas a person died due to descend from a height in the Shimla district.
The downpour saw shut down of 129 roads in the state, while 612 transformers were hindered. The much of the damage to roads was seen in Sirmaur and Mandi districts, where 57 and 44 roads were blocked respectively.
Since Saturday evening, Jogindernagar has recorded 135 mm of rains after which others include Kasauli (125 mm), Kahu (119.5 mm), Poanta Sahib (116.8 mm), Sundernagar (106 mm), Bilaspur (104.2 mm), Shimla and Bijahi (102 mm each), Ghaghas (92 mm), Kufri (91.5 mm) and Solan (88.2 mm).
Meanwhile, Dharampur had 84.2 mm of rain, Sujanpur Tira 79.8 mm, Pandoh 68 mm, Nagrota Suriyan 65.2 mm, Mandi 62.6 mm, Chopal 60 mm, Gohar and Murari Devi 60 mm each, Kangra 54.8 mm and Jatton Barrage 51 mm.