Heavy Rainfall: Chandigarh-Manali, Jammu-Srinagar highways blocked

Heavy Rainfall: Chandigarh-Manali, Jammu-Srinagar highways blocked

The water level of the Beas river rose abnormally touching the Chandigarh-Manali National Highway 21 near the Hanogi Temple in Mandi district. As the road submerged in water, the highway remained closed on Sunday. Hundreds of vehicles were stranded on both sides of the road.

All government and private schools in Shimla, Sirmaur, Kangra, Kullu, Chamba, Mandi, Kinnaur, Solan and Hamirpur districts have been directed to remain closed as a precautionary measure, officials said.

The southwest monsoon remained aggressive on Sunday in Himachal Pradesh with most of the areas experiencing heavy to extremely heavy rains, causing landslides in some areas and blocking the highways. All the major rivers and their tributaries were in spate, officials said.

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Small landslides also took place at Hanogi Mata Temple area of NH 21

Meanwhile, a truck and Volvo bus were washed away in Beas river water at Manali. The bus was parked in the official parking lot at Manali and sudden increase in the river water washed away a portion of the ground along with the bus.

However, no casualty was reported from both the districts till the evening.

Further, the highway that connects Manali with Leh in Jammu and Kashmir has been closed for traffic owing to heavy snow, officials said. “The traffic between Manali and Leh has been closed since Saturday,” an official of the 38 task force of the General Reserve Engineering Force (GREF) told IANS.

The Manali-Leh highway is crucial to the movement of the armed forces and their supplies and wares to forward areas in Ladakh.

An official of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation said it would take a week to restart the bus services between Manali via Keylong and Leh.

-PTC News