Avalanche alert issued for high altitude areas in four Himachal districts

Shimla: The Met office here has issued an avalanche alert for some high altitude areas in Himachal Pradesh for the next 24 hours. It has also predicted a wet spell in the state till Thursday, barring Tuesday.

The Defence Geoinformatics Research Establishment, Chandigarh, issued an orange alert on Saturday, with the possibility of avalanches in high altitude areas of Chamba, Kullu, Kinnaur, and Lahaul and Spiti districts in the next 24 hours.

Parts of the state witnessed light snow since Friday evening. Gondla received 8 cm of snow, Kukumseri 4.2 cm and Kalpa 2 cm.

Snowfall since February 26 has made life tough for tribals of the Pangi valley in Chamba district. With the closure of roads, the villagers have been forced to carry the sick to hospital on palanquins.

It was reported that on Friday, Sham Singh, a patient from Punto village, was taken to Civil Hospital in Killar on a palanquin. Earlier, villagers from Hudan panchayat had carried two patients, Sher Singh and Hira Lal, to the hospital on their backs.

Intermittent rains have lashed several places in the state. Kotkhai received 16.1 mm of rain, Rohru (15 mm), Saloni (14.2 mm), Theog and Kufri (12 mm each), Kasauli (11 mm), Kalpa (10.6 mm), Seobagh (10 mm), Manali (8 mm), Bhuntar (7.6 mm), Solan (7 mm), Shimla (6.2 mm) and Chamba (5 mm).

Thunderstorms were observed in Bhuntar, Jot and Palampur, while Kufri witnessed hailstorms.

Kukumseri, recording a minimum temperature of minus 2.6 degrees Celsius, was the coldest at night.

In the pre-monsoon season from March 1 to 15, Himachal Pradesh has received 60.7 mm of rainfall, compared to a normal of 57.4 mm, marking an excess of 6 per cent.