ShimlaOne hour ago
Avalanches occurred at two places in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur and Lahaul Spiti on Thursday. The Indo-Tibet National Highway was blocked for about 2 hours due to snowfall in Tinku Nala around 10 am. In the afternoon, an iceberg fell on the left bank of the Chandra Bhaga river in Lahaul. This stopped the flow of the river for some time.
The whirlwind of iceberg crossed the river and reached the other end. In Lahaul Spiti, incidents of falling of icebergs are coming again and again. On the other hand, 263 roads including 3 NH have been closed for vehicular movement due to snowfall in the state during the last two days. This is affecting the movement of people. Out of these, about 115 roads are closed for the last 15 days due to snowfall.
Hundreds of families in darkness, 1024 DTR closed
1024 electrical transformers (DTR) have also stalled across the state. Due to this, the nights of hundreds of families are passing in darkness. Maximum 711 DTRs are lying closed in Chamba district, 3 in Hamirpur, 17 in Kinnaur, 135 in Lahaul Spiti, 120 in Mandi and 55 in Sirmaur.
Snowfall alert again on January 29-30
The weather remained clear throughout the day in most areas of Himachal. Tomorrow also the weather is forecast to be clear. On January 28, the weather will change again. Heavy snowfall alert has been issued again on 29 and 30 January.
Barring the areas above 8000 feet above sea level, the state has not received good snowfall so far, whereas even at an altitude of 4500 feet during winter, there is 5 to 6 inches of snow. This time due to the weakening of the Western Disturbance, there is neither good rain nor snowfall.
Alert proved wrong on these dates
The Meteorological Center Shimla had issued a yellow alert for heavy snowfall in the higher reaches of the state during the last two days. Along with this, a snowfall alert was also issued in the low altitude areas of Shimla, Chamba, Mandi, Kullu, Lahaul Spiti, Sirmaur, Kinnaur and Lahaul Spiti. Light rain occurred at most places except Kangra and Chamba districts.
Even before this, the Meteorological Department had issued an alert of heavy snowfall from January 5 to 7 and January 11, but every time before it rains, the Western Disturbance is weakening and the weather is clearing up after light rain and snow. Due to this the farmers, horticulturists, tourism businessmen of the state are worried.
Water is not coming in the houses due to freezing of water pipes
The difficulties of people living in high altitude areas have increased. Due to minus temperature in Keylong of Lahaul Spiti, water is not coming to people’s homes. Water pipes have frozen. The local people are trying to melt them by lighting a fire.