Flash Flood Closes Manali-Leh Highway In Himachal’s Kullu After Cloudburst

A portion of National Highway-3 was closed to vehicular traffic due to a flash flood caused by a cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district, police said on Thursday.

There are no reports of loss of life in the incident that occurred late on Wednesday, officials said. The affected stretch is between Dhundi and Palchan Bridge on NH-3, also known as the Leh-Manali Road, impacted due to the cloudburst at Anjani Mahadev nullah in the Manali area.

Vehicular traffic from Lahaul and Spiti going towards Manali via the north portal of the Atal Tunnel was diverted towards Rohtang by the Lahaul and Spiti police on Thursday. It also asked commuters to avoid travel except in emergent cases, drive cautiously and remain vigilant of the development of patches of vulnerability on the highway.

The state emergency operation centre said 15 roads, including 12 in Mandi, two in Kinnaur and one in Kangra district, were closed for vehicular traffic and as many as 62 transformers were disrupted last night.

There are also initial reports of some damage to a power project and a few houses, but these are yet to be confirmed by officials who are currently assessing the damage.

The local Met office, on Wednesday, issued a ‘yellow’ alert for heavy rain at isolated places in the hill state for the next four days from July 25-28. It has also warned that strong winds and waterlogging in low-lying areas could damage plantations, standing crops, vulnerable structures, and ‘kutcha’ houses.

Since June 27, when the monsoon finally arrived in the state, 49 persons have died in rain-related incidents, and the state suffered losses of about Rs 389 crore.