Cloudburst damages houses, washes away bridges in Himachal's Kullu

A cloudburst in Gadsa valley of Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district on Tuesday damaged some houses and agricultural land in the area besides snapping power supply, officials said.

Two bridges and some cattle are feared to have been washed away and the Bhuntar-Gadsa road has been damaged at several points. Revenue officials have reached the spot to assess the situation, they said.

Power supply has been disrupted in the area and some link roads are blocked.

Following water overflow due to malfunction in a gate of the Malana Dam, the Kullu district administration had on Monday asked locals living on the banks of the Parvati river to stay vigilant.

"We have alerted the people living in villages on the banks of the river that they would be evacuated in case of a breach in Malana Dam 2," Deputy Commissioner, Kullu, Ashutosh Garg told PTI.

So far, the situation is not serious as only 30 cusec water is overflowing and the Malana Dam 1 below the stream can hold water for some time in case of a breach, allowing evacuation, he said.   The local Meteorological Office had issued an orange alert for heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places in eight of the 12 districts of the state on July 26 and 27 and cautioned against landslides, flash floods, mudslides and increased runoff in rivers.

According to the state emergency response centre, 164 people have died in rain-related incidents and road accidents and the state has suffered losses to the tune of Rs 5,269 crore since the onset of monsoon on June 24.