Beas river in full spate due to torrential rains, in Mandi on August 14, 2023
| Photo Credit: ANI
The heavy rain that wreaked havoc in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand is likely to continue into Tuesday before reducing by the end of the day, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on August 14.
At least 35 people were killed in Himachal Pradesh, seven of them buried under the rubble of a temple in Shimla, as rain wreaked havoc in the State, triggering landslips that blocked key roads and brought down houses, officials said on Monday.
“Isolated extremely heavy falls also likely over Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh during next 24 hours and substantial decrease thereafter from tomorrow,” the IMD said.
Two landslips were reported from capital Shimla, which reportedly claimed 14 lives.
Also read: Explained | Himachal floods: a man-made disaster?
All schools and colleges in the State were closed on Monday. According to the State emergency operation centre, 621 roads were closed in the State because of the calamity.
Meteorologists said the extremely heavy rain was due to an “interaction” between a passing western disturbance (WD) and active monsoon conditions in the Himalayas. “This is similar to the conditions that caused heavy rains in July. Unusually for the monsoon months, north India has seen multiple WD this year. This is also the time when the monsoon trough is active over north India, east and north-eastern India,” D. Sivananda Pai, senior meteorologist at the IMD, told The Hindu.
Western Disturbances are storms that originate in the Mediterranean region because of mixing of warm air from the tropics and cold air from the northern polar regions. They typically impact India during the winter months but a warming Arctic region has in recent months shifted these patterns and brought them closer to the southwest monsoon, he added.
The weather office predicted extremely heavy rain in nine out of 12 districts of the State, barring Kullu, Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti, on Monday and issued a yellow warning for Tuesday.
(With inputs from PTI)