A total of six people have lost their lives and 47 are still missing after a cloudburst and following flash floods in the Kullu, Mandi and Shimla regions of Himachal Pradesh.
On Friday afternoon, the Himachal Pradesh State Emergency Operation Centre provided a situation report at the three affected places for the past 36 hours, which showed the summary of damage and loss on the intervening nights of July 31 and August 1.
According to the report, Mandi has witnessed the most casualties with five, followed by Kullu with one. Shimla so far has reported no casualties.
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The report also mentioned that Shimla has the highest number of missing people so far at 33, followed by Kullu at nine and Mandi at six.
A total of 55 people had been evacuated to relief camps and 25 people reported being stranded.
Sixty-one houses were fully damaged, as the report stated, with 42 houses being partially damaged. In both cases, the majority of the damage was seen at Kullu.
In the wake of the catastrophic incident, the state government, led by Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, had earlier mobilised rescue and relief efforts. Addressing the media amidst ongoing rescue operations, Sukhu emphasised the gravity of the situation.
Later, on his visit to the affected areas, Sukhu said that 49 people were missing and four bodies had been recovered from the affected areas.
“We will provide all possible help and relief to victims of the disaster… 49 people are missing and 4 bodies have been recovered… Restoration work is underway,” he said.
The information about the cloud burst was received by the District Disaster Management Authority early Thursday morning, which took place near the hydropower project in Samej Khad in Jhakri, Rampur.
Deputy Commissioner Anupam Kashyap said as soon as the information about the incident was received, the NDRF team, SDRF team, police, and rescue team left for the site of the incident.