Heavy rain due to cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh's Rampur, 496 roads in the state closed:

News Topical, Digital Desk : Many parts of Himachal Pradesh received intermittent rainfall on Thursday while a cloudburst in Rampur in Shimla caused flash floods, officials gave this information. Officials said 496 roads, including three national highways, were closed for traffic due to landslides in many parts of the state. They said a cloudburst in Darshal in Rampur area of Shimla district late Wednesday night caused flash floods in Teklech market, but no casualties were reported as nearby houses were evacuated in view of the danger.

Orange alert issued for rain

He said that after the landslide, a total of 496 roads including Chandigarh-Manali National Highway No. 21, Old Hindustan-Tibet Road (National Highway No. 5) and Aut-Sainj Road (National Highway No. 305) were closed for traffic. According to the State Emergency Operation Center (SEOC), 278 roads were blocked in Mandi district on Thursday, while 118 roads were closed in the adjoining Kullu district. The Meteorological Department on Thursday issued an 'Orange Alert' of heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places in Una, Kangra, Mandi, Solan and Sirmaur districts on Sunday and Una, Bilaspur, Kangra, Kullu and Mandi on Monday. Moderate to heavy rain continued in some parts of the state.

108 people have died so far

Naina Devi received 92.6 mm rainfall since Wednesday evening, followed by Raipur Maidan 81.6 mm, Pachhad 75.1 mm, Olinda 67.7 mm, Kangra 62.5 mm, Dharamsala 42.5 mm, Nahan 32.6 mm, Kasauli 32.5 mm and Dehra Gopipur 31.4 mm. So far this monsoon, about 108 people have died in rain-related incidents, while 36 people are missing. Besides, 1,120 transformers and 245 water supply schemes have been affected, SEOC said. Himachal Pradesh has suffered a total loss of Rs 1,905 crore since the onset of monsoon on June 20. The state has so far witnessed 58 flash floods, 28 cloudbursts and 51 major landslides.