At least 4 dead, 9 missing as cloud burst triggers flash floods in Himachal

At least four people were killed while 9 went missing as flash floods triggered by incessant rains lashed Himachal Pradesh, a senior disaster management official said on Wednesday.

Shimla:At least four people were feared dead and another went missing as flash floods triggered by incessant rains lashed Himachal Pradesh, state disaster management director Sudesh Kumar Mokhta said on Wednesday. He said a person was killed and nine went missing in flash floods triggered by a cloudburst in the tribal district of Lahaul-Spiti while another man was reported missing from the Chamba district. The person's body was recovered by the rescue team. Two people are feared dead in Kullu district and one person is feared dead in Chamba.

In Kullu, a 25-year-old woman named Poonam and her four-year-old son Nikunj were washed away in Brahamganga, a tributary of the Parvati river, near Manikaran around 6:15 am on Wednesday due to a sudden surge in the water level, he said. At Udaipur in Lahaul, two tents of labourers and a private JCB were washed away in the flash floods triggered by a cloudburst around 8 pm on Tuesday, Mokhta said. While one labourer was killed, another was injured. The injured labourer has been identified as Mohammad Altaaf (19) from Jammu and Kashmir, he said. At least, nine labourers are still missing, he added.

Mokhta said police and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) teams were dispatched to search for the missing people but the heavy flow of water hampered the search operation on Tuesday night. The search operation resumed on Wednesday morning.

In Chamba, a JCB helper was washed away in the flash floods in Chaned tehsil, Mokhta said. In Lahaul-Spiti, several roads have been blocked and around 60 vehicles are stranded due to multiple landslides, he said. Many roads in various other parts of the state have been blocked due to landslides. A car was damaged in a landslide in Vikas Nagar in Shimla city, he added.

Meanwhile, heavy rains continued to lash various parts of the state. The Shimla Meteorological Centre has issued a 'red' weather warning. Earlier on Tuesday, several people were evacuated from Lahaul-Spiti's Darcha village after water levels rose in the Bhaga river following a heavy spell of rain, Mokhta said.

According to the Darcha police check-post, the water level in the river increased considerably due to the heavy rainfall, damaging three shops near the river bank.

With agency inputs