Himachal swept by torrential rain as neighbouring Delhi waits for monsoon

Heavy downpour has thrown life out of gear in Himachal Pradesh while Dharamshala, a popular tourist destination, experienced cloudburst on Monday (July 12), resulting in a flood-like condition. Alarming videos of vehicles in crowded market getting washed away were doing the rounds on social media and TV news channels.

The national highway near Jhakri in Shimla district was blocked due to incessant rains, affecting transport of essential goods very badly.

The Bhagsu Nag area of Dharamshala suffered most damages, triggered by a flash flood. SHO Mcleodganj Vipin Chaudhary shared a video on Twitter showing the horrifying sights of vehicles flowing with the strong water current.

#WATCH Around 10 shops damaged as Manjhi River rages following heavy rainfall in Himachal Pradesh's Dharamshala pic.twitter.com/m98H2O6Ank

— ANI (@ANI) July 12, 2021

The Mcleodganj area, which is very popular among tourists, suffered damages too.

The Himachal state authorities fear a resurgence of COVID cases, but tourist crowd hasn’t dwindled in popular tourist destinations like Manali, Shimla and Dharamshala. The Indian Express quoted Himachal Pradesh Director General of Police Sanjay Kundu to say that “prolonged work from home (WFH) culture has turned into work from Himachal Pradesh”.

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The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast for Himachal Pradesh in the next few days is not very pleasing. Moderate to heavy rains are expected, which has kept the administration on its toes. The IMD issued an orange weather warning (heavy to very heavy rains) in plains and mid-hills on July 12 and July 13 and yellow weather warning for July 14 and July 15.

Local residents and tourists have been asked not to go close to rivers, fearing landslide.

#HimachalPradesh: #Flashflood due to heavy rainfall near #Dharamshala pic.twitter.com/qckDS12fIL

— DD News (@DDNewslive) July 12, 2021

Besides Himachal, torrential rains were recorded in Uttarakhand as well as Jammu and Kashmir. A landslide blocked the Rishikesh-Badrinath national highway number 7 near Chamoli. Three people, including an eight-year-old boy, were killed in a house collapse at a village in Uttarakhand.

While the southwest monsoon creates havoc in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, it continues to play truant in Punjab, Delhi and Haryana. The IMD, however, stated that conditions are favourable for progress of monsoon over Delhi, west Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan in the next 48 hours.