Himachal Pradesh has been hit hard by monsoon fury, resulting in over 157 fatalities and 257 injuries, with significant damage to properties and infrastructure estimated at ₹886 crore. Heavy rains have caused widespread landslides and road closures, disrupting essential services like power and water supply across several districts.

Himachal Pradesh has been hit hard by monsoon fury, resulting in over 157 fatalities and 257 injuries, with significant damage to properties and infrastructure estimated at ₹886 crore. Heavy rains have caused widespread landslides and road closures, disrupting essential services like power and water supply across several districts.

Himachal Pradesh has been hit hard by monsoon fury, resulting in over 157 fatalities and 257 injuries, with significant damage to properties and infrastructure estimated at ₹886 crore. Heavy rains have caused widespread landslides and road closures, disrupting essential services like power and water supply across several districts.

With monsoon fury killing at least 157 people and injuring 257 in Himachal Pradesh between June 30 and August 9, the state witnessed heavy rains over the past few weeks.

Among the deaths, 89 were caused by road accidents while 68 were attributed to landslides, drowning, snake bites and falls. Most number of deaths were recorded in Chamba district with 24 fatalities. Kullu and Kangra reported 21 deaths each, followed by Shimla at 20 and Spiti and Lahaul at 18 each.

Five districts in the state are currently under orange alert, according to the India Meteorological Department.

The latest State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) report released by the Himachal government revealed that around 900 properties and public works have been damaged, destroying ₹886 crore worth of properties.

Is climate change to blame?

The Union government informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that climate change is make extreme rainfall a frequent affair in the Himalayan region. However, human-related factors are also adding to the disaster risk, the government acknowledges.

This was revealed by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai in response to a query on whether climate change and unscientific construction activities were contributing to disasters in Himachal Pradesh.

The SEOC report said 259 roads have been declared inoperable in the state due to rain and landslide. At least 120 roads were hit in Mandi, followed by 42 in Chamba, 40 in Kullu and 30 in Shimla.

Moreover, power has also been disrupted across Himachal Pradesh. Mandi is the worst-hit with 63 Distribution Transformer Regions (DTRs) reported out of service. Three other DTRs were hit in other districts.

Most of the disrupted water supply schemes in Himachal were in Shimla, where 12 incidents were reported. Hamirpur recorded five disruptions and Bilaspur two.

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