Couple Killed in Landslide, Three Feared Dead in Flash Flood As Heavy Rains Lash Shimla – News18

A Nepali couple was buried alive in a landslide here while an elderly couple and their grandson were feared dead after their dhaba was swept away in a flash flood here on Saturday, officials said.

As heavy rains lashed Kalala village in Kotkhai here, the couple — Bhem Bahadur and his wife Sheela — were killed when their makeshift house collapsed due to the landslide. The duo hailed from Nepal and worked as labourers in Kalala, the officials added.  In another incident on Saturday morning, an elderly couple and their grandson were feared dead after their dhaba in Badiyara village in the Rohru area here got swept away in a flash flood in the Laila rivulet, the officials said, adding that rescue work to trace the trio is underway.

Following the flash flood, reports of damage to several houses and vehicles in Rohru have started pouring in, they added.

Meanwhile, the wreckages of a Punjab Roadways bus were found in the middle of the Beas river in Manali on Saturday, the police said.

Officials of Punjab Roadways who have identified the bus said it started its journey from Sector 34 in Chandigarh on July 9 and was swept away in floods on July 10 near Manali.

It is yet to be confirmed if there were passengers on the bus during the incident, the police said, adding that the bodies of the bus driver and conductor were recovered earlier.

Meanwhile, around 30 km from Rohru, one-metre deep cracks developed along the Bazaar Road at Khaltu Nullah in the Kotkhai area here, dividing the market area into two, Shimla Deputy Commissioner Aditya Negi told PTI on Saturday.

As the cracks deepened due to incessant rains since Friday evening, 16 members of three families residing in the area were shifted to a safer place, Negi said, adding that an immediate relief of Rs 2,500 has been given to ten families.

Following rains at Kotkhai, debris entered a hospital campus in Kotkhai, a retaining wall at the area’s main bus stand collapsed, a landslide occurred in front of the police station and the power line snapped, ADGP Satwant Atwal said in a tweet.

The shopkeepers of Khaltu Nullah Bazaar have shifted their goods to temporary shelters after cracks developed and residents of the area have been shifted as a precautionary measure.

As the apple season begins, the apple growers in the villages adjoining the Khaltu Nullah market are also a worried lot as a landslide in the market could cut them off from the Guma-Chaila-Thoeg road that is used for the transportation of farm produce and other goods to Shimla and other prominent markets of the state.

Reports of several roads being blocked in Sirmaur district following heavy rains are pouring in, officials said.

As moderate to very heavy rains lashed parts of Himachal Pradesh since Friday, Renuka/Dadahu was the wettest with 195 mm of rainfall, followed by 137 mm at Nahan, 106 at Solan 103 mm at Pachhad, 90 mm at Chopal and Sundernagar each, 88 mm each at Barsar, weather data of the past 24 hours ending at 8.30 am showed.

The local MeT office has issued an orange warning of heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places on July 22 and a yellow warning of heavy rains from July 23 to 26.

It also sounded the risk of flash floods in Chamba, Kangra, Sirmaur, Kullu, Mandi and Kinnaur districts for the next 24 hours.

Since the onset of monsoon in the hill state on June 24, 154 persons have died so far in rain-related incidents such as landslides, flash floods and cloudbursts, besides road accidents, according to the Himachal Pradesh State Emergency Response Centre. The state has suffered a loss of Rs 5,077 crore so far.

About 696 roads are closed for vehicular traffic in the state. An excess of 426 per cent rainfall has been recorded in the state from July 7 to 14 and 5,480 incidents of landslides, 14 cloudbursts and 83 flash floods have been reported since June 24, a statement issued here said.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)