Glacier slides, snowfall wreak havoc in Himachal

Shimla, Feb 28 (IANS) Glacier slides, downpour and snowfall continued to wreak havoc in Himachal Pradesh on Friday, causing flash floods and landslides in many places that also hampered vehicular movement on the Chandigarh-Manali highway beyond Mandi town.

Several vehicles were washed away in swollen rivulets and stuck in debris in Kullu town where a massive landslide was reported. The tourist resort Manali saw snowfall, while the state capital Shimla was lashed by showers.

“Efforts to retrieve vehicles that were washed away in flooded waters are underway,” a police official here said, adding “there is no report of any human causality”.

The administration has issued an alert, advising the people living in the areas around the rivers and drains to remain away and is trying to restore electricity, communication, traffic, and drinking water services.

Popular tourist spots near Shimla like Kufri and Narkanda received good spells of snow for the past two days. The Rohtang Pass (13,050 feet) and the Baralacha Pass (16,020 ft) -- located on the Manali-Leh highway – witnessed heavy snowfall.

The resort town of Kalpa recorded a minimum temperature of minus 3.2 degrees Celsius, while it was 0.4 degrees in Dalhousie and minus 5.9 degrees Celsius in Keylong in Lahaul-Spiti district.

Owing to heavy snow, the Lahaul-Spiti administration has issued an advisory, asking commuters to avoid unnecessary journeys. Several roads have been shut, including routes to Darcha, Sarchu, Keylong and Koksar, and efforts are underway to clear them.

The local Meteorological Centre said Kalpa in Kinnaur district experienced 46 cm of snow, while it was 70 cm in Keylong in Lahaul-Spiti district. Kinnaur district and the upper areas of Shimla district were cut off as various link roads in Jubbal, Kotkhai, Kumarsain, Kharapathar, Rohru and Chopal were blocked by snow.

An official of the Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation said it would take at least a day to restore traffic to upper Shimla towns. Most of the areas in the state, particularly Shimla, Solan, Kullu, Sirmaur and Mandi districts, have been experiencing moderate to heavy rainfall.

The Met department’s forecast said western disturbance -- storm systems originating in the Caspian Sea and moving across the Afghanistan-Pakistan region -- would be active on March 2.