SHIMLA: Several vehicles were buried under debris and agricultural lands were damaged after a cloudburst struck Himachal Pradesh's Bilaspur district in the early hours of Saturday.
Fortunately, no casualties have been reported, officials confirmed.
The cloudburst occurred in Gutrahan village in the Namhol area of the Naina Devi assembly constituency.
“Gushing waters along with debris swept away agricultural lands,” said Kashmir Singh, a local villager.
Several vehicles were buried under the debris following the incident.
Meanwhile, dense fog engulfed the state capital, Shimla, on Saturday morning, reducing visibility to just a few metres. Commuters, especially during school hours, faced considerable inconvenience
The local Meteorological Department has issued a yellow warning for heavy rainfall in isolated parts of the state on Saturday and Sunday.
As of Friday evening, a total of 503 roads—including the Attari-Leh road (National Highway-3), Aut-Sainj road (NH-305), and Amritsar-Bhota road (NH-503A)—remained closed to traffic.
Additionally, 953 power transformers and 336 water supply schemes across the state have been disrupted due to recent floods and landslides, according to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC).
Since the onset of the monsoon on June 20 until September 12, a total of 386 people have lost their lives in rain-related incidents and road accidents in the state. Of these, 218 deaths were due to rain-related events, while 168 resulted from road accidents.
The state has so far suffered an estimated loss of ₹4,465 crore, officials added.
Himachal Pradesh received an average rainfall of 967.2 mm from June 1 to September 12, against a normal of 678.4 mm, an excess of 43 per cent, according to meteorological data.