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At least four people are feared dead and nine reported missing in flash floods triggered by heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh, a senior disaster management official said on Wednesday.
State Disaster Management director Sudesh Kumar Mokhta said two people are feared dead in Kullu district and one person is feared dead in Chamba. One person was killed and nine are missing in Lahaul-Spiti.
In Kullu, a 25-year-old woman, Poonam, and her four-year-old son Nikunj were washed away in Brahamganga, a tributary of the Parvati river, near Manikaran around 6:15 am on Wednesday due to a sudden surge in the water level, he said.
In Udaipur in Lahaul, two tents of labourers and a private JCB were washed away in the flash floods triggered by a cloudburst around 8 pm on Tuesday, Mokhta said.
While one labourer was killed, another was injured. The injured labourer has been identified as Mohammad Altaaf (19) from Jammu and Kashmir, he said.
At least, nine labourers are still missing, he added.
Mokhta said police and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) teams were dispatched to search for the missing people but the heavy flow of water hampered the search operation on Tuesday night. The search operation resumed on Wednesday morning.
In Chamba, a JCB helper was washed away in the flash floods in Chaned tehsil, Mokhta said.
In Lahaul-Spiti, several roads have been blocked and around 60 vehicles are stranded due to multiple landslides, he said.
Many roads in various other parts of the state have been blocked due to landslides. A car was damaged in a landslide in Vikas Nagar in Shimla city, he added.
Meanwhile, heavy rains continued to lash various parts of the state. The Shimla Meteorological Centre has issued a ‘red’ weather warning.
Earlier on Tuesday, several people were evacuated from Lahaul-Spiti’s Darcha village after water levels rose in the Bhaga river following a heavy spell of rain, Mokhta said.
According to the Darcha police check-post, the water level in the river increased considerably due to the heavy rainfall, damaging three shops near the river bank.
People living near low-lying areas have been safely evacuated by police, Mokhta said.
