Over 500 Roads Blocked, Vehicles Swept Away Amid Landslides, Rain

No casualty; 4 hurt as bus overturns in Mandi; water released from Pandoh, Barot dams

- HT Correspondent

SHIMLA: Landslides triggered by heavy rains and snow left 583 roads, including five highways, across Himachal Pradesh blocked, throwing life out of gear on Friday. A dozen vehicles were swept away in a drain after a cloudburst in Pahanala Khad of Kullu district. Chhota Bhangal of Kangra district also witnessed a cloudburst. Kinnaur and Bharmour witnessed sliding of glacier. No loss of life was reported.

Four persons were injured when a bus, heading towards Pathankot from Mandi, overturned after being hit by a landslide near Banala in Mandi district on the Chandigarh-Manali highway. They were hospitalized in Mandi. While Kullu's Akhada Bazaar and Gandhi Nagar were inundated, damaging vehicles parked on the roadside, officials said.

Intermittent snowfall in the higher reaches and rains in the rest of the state for the third day left cut off several areas in Kullu, Lahaul and Spiti, Kinnaur, Chamba and Shimla districts, officials said. Kullu deputy commissioner Torul S Raveesh said six-feet snow fell on Atal Tunnel, making tourists stranded. She said directions have been issued to ensure their safety. "Amid avalanche threat, Manali SDM has been instructed to open the road after the weather clears," the DC said.