Death toll in Himachal Pradesh cloudburst mounts to 14; search on for 31 missing

With the recovery of one more body the death toll in the cloudburst and flash floodrelated incidents in Mandi has mounted to 14 officials said on ThursdayFive people were injured while a search is underway for 31 missing they saidThe latest body yet to be identified was found in Rode in the Thunag subdivision of the district Ten cloudbursts three flash floods and a landslide were witnessed in different parts of Mandi on TuesdayEarlier in the morning two people were found dead In all seven bodies were found in Gohar six in Thunag and one in Karsog subdivision of the districtMore than 150 houses 106 cattle sheds 31 vehicles 14 bridges and several roads were damaged in the calamities A total of 164 cattle perished while 402 people 348 of them in Mandi were rescued and five relief camps have been set up the State Emergency Operation Centre SEOC saidThe inclement weather has sent 246 roads 145 in Mandi district out of bounds for traffic and disrupted 404 transformers and 784 water supply schemes in the past few days in the state the SEOC saidThe ManaliKeylong road was blocked following floods in a drain near the Solang Nallah The traffic in the area has been diverted to Rohtang PassA massive landslide was reported in Dhalli in the suburbs of Shimla where a chunk of hill came down sliding No casualty was reportedAccording to reports about half a dozen houses were left in a precarious state after a fourlane road embankment on the KaithlighatDhalli stretch collapsed in Lindidhar village damaging a large number of apple treesThe safety wall had collapsed earlier also but no steps were taken to bolster it locals alleged and blamed the National Highway Authority of India for the incidentMany families in Lindidhar village have been forced to leave their homes and take shelter elsewhereThe place is near Bhatta Kuffar where a fivestory building collapsed Monday morningHeavy rain claimed the lives of about 10000 chickens in a poultry farm in Majra Mansoh village under Gram Panchayat Dhamandhari in Una district early ThursdayRanveer Singh who owned the chicken farm said his field was inundated with water leaving him with no time for any rescue attemptVillagers said waterlogging in the Majra Mansoh area has been a perennial problem in the areaThe government is alive to the problems being faced by the people and is making every effort to provide relief to the disaster victims in the worstaffected areas of Mandi Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said in a statementThe Public Works Department has pressed into service 84 excavators one robot three dozers and 36 tippers to clear the debris Sukhu saidDue to road closures and poor network connectivity field coordination remains a challenge and Intra Circle Roaming ICR has been activated by the Department of Telecommunications DoT in the Thunag area Apart from this ISATs have also been mobilised to the area for emergency communication he saidThe Jal Shakti department has activated gravitybased small schemes after chlorination to ensure a safe drinking water supply in some villagesTwo teams of the National Disaster Response Force NDRF the State Disaster Response Force SDRF and police and home guards are engaged in search and rescue operations in MandiA total of 246 kits of ration have been air dropped in Thunag and Janjheli Sukhu saidMeanwhile addressing a press conference in Mandi Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Jairam Thakur said that his constituency Seraj has been the worsthit with 500 houses suffering damageHe alleged that he had been trying to contact the CM since morning but there was no responseModerate to heavy rain meanwhile continued to lash parts of Himachal PradeshPachhad in Sirmaur district received 1333 mm of rain since Wednesday evening the highest followed by Mehra Barsar 92 mm Jubbarhatti 594 mm Una 586 mm Jatton Barrage 566 mm Baijnath 55 mm Shimla 459 mm Nahan 425 mm Brahmani 422 mm Kangra 376 mm Baggi 375 mm Murari Devi 346 mm and Palampur 32 mmThe weather office has issued an Orange Alert warning of heavy to very heavy rains in three to seven districts from July 5 to 7 and a Yellow Alert warning of heavy rain across the state barring the tribal Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti districts till the weekendIt also warned of low to moderate flashflood risk in parts of Kangra Mandi Hamirpur Shimla and Sirmaur in the next 24 hoursSarahan in Shimla district was coldest at night with a low of 147 degrees Celsius while Hamirpur was hottest during the day recording a high of 339 degrees CelsiusThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever