Himachal Pradesh Cloudburst Death Count Rises To 22

Flash floods triggered by cloudbursts in Shimla, Kullu and Mandi districts of Himachal Pradesh on July 31 midnight have so far claimed 22 lives while operations are underway to trace over 30 missing persons, officials said on Wednesday.

The flash floods were reported in Kullu's Nirmand, Sainj and Malana, Mandi's Padhar and Shimla's Rampur.

The worst hit was Samej village, which falls under the Sarpara Panchayat in Rampur subdivision, where about 25 people are missing.

Nine bodies have been recovered from Mandi's Rajbhan village, three from Nirmand and Bagipul in Kullu district and 10 from Samej and surrounding areas of Dhadkol, Bro and Sunni Dam in Shimla district, officials said.

Of the total 22 bodies, six were recovered on Wednesday -- four in Shimla and two in Kullu. Twelve bodies have been identified so far and DNA samples are being taken for identification of the bodies, police said.

The search operations are underway in an about 85-km stretch, according to the officials.

State Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi on Wednesday said the chances of recovering more bodies are dim as the area washed out has already been searched.

Family members of the around 30 people who are still missing have begun losing hope as the search operations to trace the victims entered the seventh day on Wednesday amid incessant rains.

Sharing details about the ongoing operation in Samej village, Assistant Commanding Officer, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Karam Singh said, "It is raining but the joint search and rescue operations are underway." "The water level is rising in Sutlej River and slides are also occurring at multiple places. JCBs and other machines are being used to clear the roads. Our soldiers are skilled and cross the river through ropes to search the sites where there is any possibility of finding the missing people", Singh added.

The family members of the missing persons who have been camping at the site for the past week are now praying for the recovery of bodies to perform last rites.

"My brother, two sisters-in-law, daughter-in-law, nephews and niece are missing," said Moti Ram who along with one of his daughter-in-law and grandson survived as they were out of home when the tragedy struck.

The water level in the river is increasing and the rescue teams are facing a lot of difficulty due to the continuous rains, said Kair Singh, a local.

Meanwhile, last rites of two persons -- Rachna and Pritika -- were performed by their family members in Samej.

As the rains continued to pund the region, the local meteorological office issued an orange alert of heavy to very heavy rainfall, thunderstorm and lightning at isolated places in the state for Wednesday and Saturday.

The Met also said that monsoon activity is likely to intensify in the next five to six days with fairly widespread rains.

BJP MP Kangana Ranaut who visited Samej village on Tuesday and other parts of Shimla and Kullu accused the state Congress government of doing "nothing" to help the victims.

According to the officials, 663 rescuers from teams of the Army, NDRF, SDRF, ITBP, CISF, Himachal Pradesh Police and home guards are involved in the hunt and rescuers have intensified the search operation by deploying more machinery, sniffer dog squad, drones and other equipment.

A total of 94 people were killed in rain-related incidents between June 27 and August 7 and the state suffered losses amounting to Rs 787 crore, according to the officials.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)