Himachal rains: Schools shut in Sirmaur, Solan; MeT warns of flash floods, landslides

Shimla, Jul 10 (PTI) Following relentless rains in parts of Himachal Pradesh, all government and private educational institutions and Anganwadis remained shut in Sirmaur and Solan districts on Friday, officials said. The MeT department in Shimla has forecast heavy rainfall in many parts of the state, cautioning against possible landslides, flash floods, uprooting of trees and road blockades. According to separate orders issued by the deputy commissioners of Sirmaur and Solan, Priyanka Verma and Manmohan Sharma, respectively, continuous rainfall is leading to obstruction of rural roads, increased risk of landslides and general disruption of normal life, particularly in the rural and hilly areas. Such inclement weather conditions are likely to endanger the life and safety of students commuting to and from schools across the district, the orders said. An order to shut educational institutions in the Paonta subdivision of Sirmaur district was issued late on Thursday. On Friday morning, the SDMs of Nahan, Sangrah, Pacchad and Rajgarh subdivisions in the district issued similar orders to keep schools and colleges shut. All teaching and non-teaching staff, however, were ordered to remain present at their respective institutes, officials said. In Solan district, two persons sustained injuries after stones fell from a hillside onto a moving vehicle in the Arki area. The injured have been admitted to a hospital in Kunihar for treatment, officials said. The Innova Crysta carrying five people was travelling on the Gambharpul-Sarli road when stones fell on it suddenly. The owner of the car, Maher Chand, was among the injured. Similar incidents were reported from several locations along the Kalka-Shimla National Highway, leading to the closure of one lane. According to officials, rockfalls occurred between Waknaghat and Kandaghat, and between Dharampur and Chakki Mod on the highway. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has restricted traffic to a single lane as a precautionary measure, the officials said. According to the weather office, heavy to extremely heavy rain lashed parts of Himachal Pradesh since Thursday evening, with Pachhad in Sirmaur district receiving 207 mm of downpour, followed by Nahan (158.5 mm), Kasauli (145 mm) and Dharampur (136.8 mm). Moderate to heavy downpour was witnessed in Solan, which recorded 113 mm of rain, followed by Palampur (109 mm), Jot (83 mm), Jubberhatti (72.9 mm), Dhaulakuan (70 mm), Poanta Sahib (62.8 mm), Kufri, Bharwain and Ghaghas (62 mm each), Shillaroo (60.1 mm), Shimla (58.8 mm), Kahu (56.8 mm) and Mashobra (55 mm). The MeT department has issued a warning for very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall, which may potentially lead to incidents of landslides, flash floods, uprooting of trees and road blockades, posing danger to public safety. Precautionary measures are being taken to avoid any untoward incident and to safeguard human lives, especially those of school children, the officials said. Heavy rain also led to the closure of several roads in Sirmaur district, according to reports. Normal life was disrupted in Shimla district, where 27 link roads were closed for vehicular traffic, according to the district disaster management authority. A wall collapsed at Vikasnagar in Shimla, damaging two vehicles parked by the roadside, the officials said. At Brandli village in the Rampur tehsil of the district, rain damaged the protection wall of a house, while water entered the Industrial Training Institute campus in Sunni, prompting the authorities to launch an evacuation exercise. PTI BPL ARI