Shimla, Aug 1 :
Five cloudbursts and heavy rains in different parts of Himachal Pradesh have left at least two people dead and over 50 missing since Wednesday even as state and central agencies launched a coordinated efforts to locate missing persons and provide aid to those affected, officials said on Thursday.
According to reports reaching the state headquarters, three cloudbursts struck the Kullu district and one each hit Mandi and Shimla districts overnight.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhi, who held a review meeting, said that state emergency operation centres have been set up at 13 places in the state for disaster monitoring and these would be operational round-the-clock.
Sukhu said that two bodies had been retrieved so far while more than 50 persons were still missing. He said that five roads, one national highway were blocked and three bridges were damaged during the last 12 hours due to cloudbursts and heavy rains.
According to the State Emergency Operation Centre, one fatality each were reported from Mandi and Shimla districts.
The CM said rescue operations were in full swing, with teams working tirelessly to locate missing persons and provide aid to those affected.
The Chief Minister said that the most affected site was Samej area of Jhakri in Shimla district where residential area had also been affected due to cloudburst and around 36 persons were missing.
In Mandi district, the cloud burst occurred near Tikkan Thalukot village of Padhar tehsil where about seven persons were reported missing and one body had been retrieved while three houses were also damaged.
The CM said that in Kullu district, the cloudburst hit village Jaon in Nirmand Tehsil where seven persons were missing and nine houses were washed away besides causing damage to two bridges.
The incidents of cloud bursts also took place in the upper reaches resulting in a rise in water level in Pin Parvati river and one bus was washed away.
A small part of Kullu -Manali NH-3 was also washed away, disrupting vehicular traffic on Chandigarh-Manali and Manali-Leh highways.
Another incident took place at Malana Sub Tehsil Jari of district Kullu causing damage to Malana bridge and nine persons were stranded along the Beas river near Malana.
Two major dams including Malana one and Malana two were damaged after cloudburst in Pin valley of Kullu district.
The rescue operations saw coordinated efforts involving the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Home Guard, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, and local fire stations. The Indian Air Force played a crucial role by airlifting rescue teams to the most severely affected areas, ensuring that aid and relief reach those in need.
Meanwhile, an urgent advisory has been issued by the State Disaster Management Authority due to the rapid increase in water and silt levels in the Vyas river..
The Pandoh and Larji Dams are set to open their floodgates to manage the excessive silt accumulation, prompting warnings to the public to stay away from the riverbanks.
