By IANS,
Shimla : The hills of Himachal Pradesh may experience heavy rainfall in the next three days that may hamper the ongoing relief work in rain-ravaged Kinnaur district in Himachal Pradesh.
“There are chances of heavy spells of rain across the state till Friday,” Manmohan Singh, director of the meteorological office here, told IANS.
Kinnaur has been the worst-hit in last week’s landslides triggered by torrential rains. Incessant rainfall in the region June 16-18 triggered massive landslides that blocked many roads in the district.
Most of the tourist towns like Shimla, Narkanda, Kufri, Kasauli, Chamba, Dharamsala, Palampur and Manali saw good spells of rain in the past 24 hours.
Paonta Sahib town in Sirmaur district recorded the highest amount of rainfall – 148 mm – in the state. Shimla saw 12 mm rain and high temperature of 24.3 degrees Celsius. Dharamsala, which experienced 32.6 mm of rain, saw a high of 26.8 degrees Celsius.
Official sources said the road link between state capital Shimla and district headquarters Rekong Peo was restored Sunday after a week’s closure, while most villages are still cut off from the rest of the state.
Almost all the stranded tourists in the high altitude areas of rain-ravaged Kinnaur district in Himachal Pradesh have been rescued by the Indian Air Force (IAF), an official said here Monday.
The last batch of 118 stranded tourists, who included 14 Americans, were airlifted Monday by three IAF choppers from across Kinnaur.
The IAF, army, Border Roads Organisation, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and National Disaster Management Authority are involved in rescue work in the state.
“Heavy rainfall is also likely to affect counting of votes (in Kinnaur) for the Mandi parliamentary by-poll slated for June 27,” an election official here said.
He said election material and staff have been airlifted to most of the 118 polling stations, where road links have been snapped.
Two days before the polling date, the Election Commission had postponed voting in the Kinnaur assembly constituency. In 16 other assembly constituencies, which are part of the Mandi seat, the polling was held June 23. Counting of votes will be held June 30.