Cloudburst Damages Houses, Washes Away Bridges In Himachal's Kullu

A cloudburst in Gadsa valley of Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district on Tuesday damaged some houses and agricultural land in the area besides snapping the power supply lines, officials said.

Two bridges have been washed away and the Bhuntar-Gadsa road has been damaged at several points, they said, adding that some heads of cattle may have died in the cloudburst. The revenue department reached the spot to assess the situation.

Kullu Deputy Commissioner Ashutosh Garg said five houses were completely damaged while 15 were damaged partially in Gadsa and Kurla panchayats. Affected families have been provided temporary shelter, he added.

#WATCH | Ashutosh Garg, Deputy Commissioner, Kullu says, "This incident is of 4.00 am in the morning when we were informed that there is a cloudburst in Gadsa Valley and still the flow of water is very strong. 23 families have been affected due to teh cloud burst. 5 families'… pic.twitter.com/zj4mg6LKRu

— ANI (@ANI) July 25, 2023

The officials said the power supply to the area has been disrupted and some link roads are blocked, as is the connecting road to the village.

Reports of gushing water damaging houses and land in Kashwar village of Tissa panchayat in Chamba district have been received, they said.

Since the onset of the monsoon on June 24, around 652 houses were completely damaged, besides 236 shops and 2,037 cow sheds, as per data from the state emergency response centre.

The local meteorological Office has issued an orange alert for heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places in eight of the 12 districts on July 26 and 27 and cautioned against landslides, flash floods and mudslides.

The weather office also issued a yellow warning of heavy rain on July 28 and predicted a wet spell in the state till July 31. It cautioned of moderate to high risk of flash floods in Chamba, Kangra, Sirmaur, Shimla, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kullu, Mandi and Kinnaur districts.

According to the state emergency response centre, 168 people have died in rain-related incidents and road accidents since the onset of the monsoon and the state has suffered losses to the tune of Rs 5,350 crore. A total of 566 roads are closed in the state for vehicular traffic, the data showed.

Light to heavy rains lashed a few parts of the state during the day, with Dharamshala recording 85.5 mm of downpour, Palampur 56 mm, Dalhousie 30 mm and Sarahan 25 mm.