Himachal monsoon fury: Death toll reaches 15, authorities intensify restoration efforts
Shimla, July 29
Restoration of essential services gathered momentum across Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday, with the number of blocked roads declining to 152 as authorities continued large-scale clearance operations following heavy monsoon rains.
According to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), the number of blocked roads across the state fell to 152 by 6 p.m. on July 29 from 192 reported a day earlier. No national highway is currently blocked.
Mandi district remains the worst affected with 58 blocked roads, followed by Kullu (31), Chamba (30), Sirmaur (14) and Shimla (14).
Power supply also improved significantly during the day, with the number of disrupted Distribution Transformer Regions (DTRs) reducing to 72 from 189 reported earlier. Chamba accounts for 59 affected DTRs, followed by Mandi (8) and Sirmaur (5).
The drinking water supply situation also showed improvement, with disrupted water supply schemes declining to 68 from 80. Hamirpur has the highest number of affected schemes (23), followed by Bilaspur (18), Mandi (16) and Chamba (15).
Meanwhile, the SEOC's 24-hour incident report recorded three major incidents in Chamba district during the past 24 hours. These included two flash flood incidents and one road accident.
The flash floods struck Oberi village under Patwar Circle Sultanpur and Geoti village under Patwar Circle Haripur, damaging 28 houses, one cowshed and one shop at Sultanpur. The flash floods also led to the blockage of one road in Haripur. No injuries or fatalities were reported in the flood incidents.
A separate road accident at Lahar in Dalhousie tehsil claimed the lives of five persons, according to the SEOC report.
Cumulative data for the monsoon season from June 30 to July 29 shows that 15 people have lost their lives in rain-related incidents across Himachal Pradesh. Of these, 14 deaths were caused by landslides, including 13 in Lahaul and Spiti and one in Chamba, while one person died in a flash flood in Kangra. No fatalities due to cloudbursts have been reported so far.
The State disaster management authorities said restoration and clearance operations are continuing on a war footing, with emergency response teams remaining on round-the-clock alert to respond to any fresh monsoon-related emergencies.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Monsoon fury is no joke. It's good that no national highway is blocked now, but 152 blocked roads still sounds scary for locals. Happy to see the power supply improving from 189 to 72 DTRs – that's real progress. Hope the water supply issue in Hamirpur gets fixed soon too. Stay safe, Himachal! 🤗
It's heartbreaking to see the toll rise to 15. But I think we need to be honest – the disaster management could have been better. Why are flash floods and landslides still catching so many villages unprepared? In places like Oberi and Geoti, early warning systems and better drainage could save lives. Let's not just count deaths, let's act.
As someone who's visited Himachal often, it's tough seeing this news. The road accident in Dalhousie claiming 5 lives is especially sad – that's a common travel route. Hope the NH stays clear for rescue vehicles. Kudos to the emergency teams working 24/7 – true heroes during monsoon season. 🇮🇳
Himachal is my home state, and every monsoon brings this anxiety. Thankful for the SEOC updates – they're transparent. But the damage to 28 houses in Sultanpur shows how vulnerable rural areas are. Need more resilient infrastructure and better housing for villagers. Also, why is there no cloudburst fatality reported? That's a small relief, I guess.
So sad to hear about the 5 lives lost in the Dalhousie road accident. Monsoon season in mountains is always risky. The restoration
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