Himachal: Trees uprooted, vehicles damaged in rain, hailstorm; yellow alert sounded

Rain and hailstorm accompanied by lightning on Friday lashed several parts of Himachal Pradesh, including the key tourist destinations of Manali and Shimla, uprooting trees and damaging vehicles, officials said.

In Manali, a tree uprooted in the storm damaged nine vehicles and the roof of a house near Bhutnath temple. One person sitting inside a vehicle suffered injuries and was rushed to a local hospital, they said.

Intermittent rain accompanied by lightning and hailstorm lashed Shimla and surrounding areas, and dark convective clods overcast the sky, reducing visibility to a few metres.

Reports of trees being uprooted and hailstorm lashing several parts of the state have also poured in.

The local meteorological station has predicted rain in isolated places in the mid-hills and rain or snowfall in the higher reaches in a few places from 20 to 23 April. It has also issued a yellow warning of thunderstorm with lighting, hail and gusty winds in isolated places on 22 and 23 April.

A yellow weather warning typically indicates severely bad weather spanning several days.

Light to moderate rain occurred at several places in the state on Friday with Ghaghas being the wettest with 19 mm of rain, followed by Sundernagar with 17.4 mm, Bharmour with 13 mm, Dalhousie with 9 mm, Berthin with 8.2 mm, Bilaspur with 8 mm, Jot with 7.6 mm, Kasauli with 8 mm and Shimla with 7 mm.

As many as 106 roads and three national highways, including the Gramphu-Losar and Darcha- Sarchu highways, were closed in Lahaul and Spiti district alone, according to the state emergency operation centre.

The day temperatures crashed in a few places and Chamba and Dalhousie recorded a high of 23ºC and 11.3ºC, which were 11.5 and 10 notches below normal, respectively.

Dhaula Kuan was the hottest in the state with a high of 36.9ºC, followed by 35ºC in Una.