CHANDIGARH: Himachal Pradesh received 39 per cent excess rainfall during the monsoon season from June 1 to September 30, and the state recorded 1,022.5 mm of rainfall against the normal rainfall of 734.4 mm. This year, the hill state received the 15th-highest monsoon rainfall in the last 125 years and the highest in 29 years.
The highest rainfall of 1,314.6 mm was recorded in 1922 for the period from 1901 to 2025. As per a report issued by the meteorological centre in Shimla, the southwest monsoon entered the Himalayan state on June 20 and withdrew on September 26.
In the last 29 years, the earliest onset of the southwest monsoon was on June 9, 2000, and the most delayed arrival was on July 5, 2010. The earliest withdrawal was on September 18, 2001, and the most delayed one was on October 11, 2019. This monsoon, the excess rainfall was 34 per cent in June, 68 per cent in August and 71 per cent in September. However, July recorded a deficit of 2 per cent.
Very heavy rainfall was recorded in the state on 36 days. Excessive rains wreaked havoc in the hill state, which suffered losses of more than Rs 4,881 crore. The state witnessed 47 cloudbursts, 98 flash floods and 148 major landslides this monsoon and 454 people died in such incidents, as per the last report of the State Emergency Operation Centre released on September 24. The report mentioned that of the victims, 264 lost their lives in rain-related incidents and 190 in road accidents. Additionally, 498 people were injured, and 50 are still reported missing. Also, 9,230 houses were fully or partially damaged.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today said that the state government is yet to receive the Rs 1,500 crore assistance announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi following an aerial survey of the disaster-affected areas of the state. "People are in a lot of pain and are facing several issues. If the relief comes a year or two later, it loses its relevance. People need the relief now,” he said while talking to the media after returning from London on a personal trip.
Sukhu said, regardless of the Central Government’s assistance, the state government would help the affected people. The state government will give Rs 7 lakh to those who have lost their houses and Rs 1 lakh to those with partially damaged houses. "People who have lost land, livestock and orchards will also get assistance,” he added.
While the BJP had questioned his London visit, Sukhu said that he had to carry out his duties as a father, too. "I had to accompany my daughter to London, who has gone there for higher studies and not even one penny was spent from the government account on this trip,’’ he claimed.
