Red alert in Himachal Pradesh for 2 days: Zero visibility, heavy downpour, lightning as Shimla witnesses another terrifying night

Shimla, Aug 23: Tuesday night seemed too long for Shimla residents as they witnessed heavy downpour all night and woke up to the sound of lightning and zero visibility at many places. Meteorological office here had issued a red alert predicting “heavy to very heavy” rain with isolated spells of “extremely heavy” rain in eight of its 12 districts during the night. The rain triggered some landslides and uprooting of trees on Mall Road and near the Chief Minister's residence. With 200 more roads blocked, a total of 530 roads in the state are now shut. Schools and colleges have been closed for Wednesday and Thursday in Shimla, Mandi and Bilaspur. The red alert was issued in the evening for Shimla, Solan, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kullu, Mandi, Sirmaur and Una districts as rain on Tuesday triggered some landslides in Mandi and Hamirpur districts and uprooted trees in other areas. So far, about 80 people died in rain-related incidents, including major landslides in Shimla. The Met also issued an orange alert warning of “heavy to very heavy rain” on Wednesday and Thursday, and a yellow warning of heavy rain on August 25 and 26. It has predicted a wet spell in the state till August 28. As many as 227 people have died in rain-related disasters in Himachal while 38 are still missing since the onset of monsoon on June 24. Over 12,000 houses have been completely or partially damaged, according to the state emergency operation centre. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has claimed that the state has suffered losses of Rs 10,000 crore in the heavy rain.