Rain havoc in North; trains cancelled

Widespread rains drenched vast swathes of north India on Sunday leading to flooding in several areas as one person was washed away in a swollen rivulet in Himachal Pradesh and several tourists were rescued by the Army in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.

North Western Railway cancelled five trains between Rajasthan and parts of Gujarat due to heavy rain damaging rail route in Ahmedabad division, an official said here.

The national capital got drenched in the month’s highest rainfall which brought down the mercury considerably even as most of the low-lying areas witnessed waterlogging. The maximum temperature was recorded at 29.6 degrees Celsius, four notches below the normal level.

The season’s highest rainfall was recorded at 93.8 mm on July 11.

In Himachal, one person was washed away in swollen rivulet in Amb area of Una district as heavy rains lashed parts of Una, Kangra and Hamirpur districts disrupting normal life. However, flood water receded in Dharampur area, where flash flood had claimed four lives on Saturday but the bodies of two persons buried under debris are yet to be extricated while there was no trace of two mission persons, feared to have been washed away.

Heavy rains occurred in lower reaches of Himachal Pradesh including state capital Shimla.
The local MeT office has warned of very heavy rains at isolated places in mid hills on Monday and rains and thundershowers at many places in lower, mid and higher hills over next six days up to August 15.

Several villages in Ladakh of Jammu and Kashmir were also cut off from the main land due to flooding and landslides. About 400 stranded tourists have been evacuated by the Army from flood-hit areas of Ladakh, which witnessed unprecedented heavy rains coupled with mud and rock slides.

Rains also lashed many places in Punjab and Haryana causing the mercury to dip by a few notches. The Union Territory of Chandigarh continued to receive rains for the third consecutive day.