Himachal Pradesh: 23 Roads Closed As IMD Issues 'Yellow Alert' For 6 Districts

A maximum of 10 roads are closed in Kangra, six in Mandi, four in Kullu, two in Shimla, and one in Sirmaur district while 9 power supply schemes have been affected.

Shimla: Even though the weather has remained mainly dry in Himachal Pradesh during the past three days, 23 roads are still closed in the state, officials said on Tuesday.

However, the local meteorological office warned of heavy rains in Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur districts on Wednesday. It also issued a 'yellow' warning for thunderstorms and lightning at isolated places in six out of 12 districts of the state on Wednesday and Thursday.

A maximum of 10 roads are closed in Kangra, six in Mandi, four in Kullu, two in Shimla and one in Sirmaur district while nine power supply schemes have been affected, as per the state emergency operation centre.

The rain deficit in the current monsoon season from June 1 till September 24 was 21 per cent with Himachal Pradesh receiving 573.7 mm rainfall against a normal of 723.1 mm, the local MeT office said on Tuesday.

The rain deficit was highest at 69 per cent in Lahaul and Spiti, followed by 35 per cent in Una, 34 per cent in Chamba, 31 per cent in Hamirpur, 21 per cent in Solan, 20 per cent in Kinnaur, nine per cent in Kangra and Sirmaur and four per cent in Mandi while Shimla was the only district which received 15 per cent excess rains.

Meanwhile, the maximum temperatures rose significantly across Himachal as the weather remained dry and stayed three to eight degrees Celsius above normal.

Keylong in tribal Lahaul and Spiti district recorded a high of 25.9 degrees, 7.9 degrees above normal while Kalpa in tribal Kinnaur district registered day temperature at 25.2 degrees, 4.9 degrees above normal .

Una, which was hottest in the state, recorded a high of 38.6 degrees, 5.7 degrees above normal while the mercury stayed 5.6 degrees above normal in Solan, 5.8 degrees above normal in Bhuntar, 5.2 degrees above normal in Dharamshala and 5.7 degrees above normal in Shimla.

The minimum temperatures also stayed two to five degrees above normal and Paonta Sahib and Dehra Gopipur were hottest during Monday night with minimum temperature at 26.0 degree.

As per the last update, officials said 177 people died in rain-related incidents since the onset of monsoon till Friday, while 31 were missing.

The state has suffered losses to the tune of Rs 1,331 crore, they said. 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)