Over 670 roads, including major highways, across Himachal Pradesh continue to remain partially or completely blocked due to land slides and flash floods triggered by heavy rains across various parts of the hillstate in the past two days.Traffic towards 13,050 feet-high Rohtang pass—the gateway to tribal Lahaul and Spiti district— was suspended as the local streams continue to remain in spate.

“Leh-Manali highway has been closed for vehicular trafficdue to landslides and flash floods at several places, including Pagal Nullah,Koksar, Bharatpur, Rohtang and Sarchu,” Kullu superintendent of police GauravSingh said.

“The traffic will be restored once the debris are cleared,”he added.Reports said that around 200 trucks, carrying supplies to Leh andLadakh, besides tourists’ vehicles have been stuck on the highway since SundaybetweenManali and Sarchu.

Police, army and local administration have launched a rescueoperation to evacuate the tourists to safer places.“The operations continuedtill late Sunday night. The army deployed its vehicles to rescue tourist, enroute to Ladakh, stranded at several points after the water-level increasedtremendously in Pagal and Telling nullah where slush is flowing continuously.Intermittent rains have further hampered the road clearance,” said 38 BorderRoad Task Force commander Uma Shankar.

The strategically-important Leh-Manali highway spans over alength of 479  kilometers and passesthrough some of  the world’s highestmountain passes in the world, averaging well over 17,000 feet. The highway isused by the armed forces to reach forward areas in Ladakh bordering China andPakistan.

The Hindustan Tibet national highway (NH 5), connectingfrontiers along China border, was also blocked for traffic at Powari in Kinnaurdistrict  due to landslides.

Traffic remained suspended on National Highway 3 connectingKiratpur to Manali as the roads have caved in at several places owing to flashfloods triggered by heavy spell.

“Beas river is flowing above the danger level. In many areaslike Aut in Mandi district, the roads have completely deluged in the river,” SPGaurav Singh said.

A 3km-long stretch on the highway connecting Kullu to Manalihas been damaged and the traffic is being diverted through Naggar, 23kilometers from Kullu. The Averi-Bajirbody road and the Bajaura-Kataula roadnear Ropa area of Kullu district were also blocked following massivelandslides. 

Chandigarh-Manali highway restored

Meanwhile, traffic on Chandigarh-Manali national highway (NH21) was restored on Monday evening after remaining suspended for 44 hours asthe highway along the swollen Beas river was submerged in water near Dwada.

Light vehicles were diverted throughMandi-Kataula-Bajaura-Kullu road while heavy vehicles, including truckscarrying supply to Leh and tourists Volvo buses, which were stranded on boththe sides of the highway, were cleared Monday morning.

Owing to landslips and road damage, traffic from Dharamshlato Shimla via Hamirpur has been diverted via Bhota-patta and Ukhli, on way toShimla via Ghumarwin. The bridge near Mair village of Hamirpur district on thenational highway was also damaged.

Hamirpur DSP (Leave Reserve), Renu Sharma said policepersonnel have been deployed on both sides of the road near Ukhli and Bhota toguide the commuters to take the alternate route.

Several roads remained blocked in Chamba district too.

The Chamba-Pathankot road was blocked at Parihar and theChamba-Chowari road via Jot at Bhatalwan Ghar and Mathunu.

The Lahru-Sihunta road was blocked at Lahri Bhatti nearLahru and the Lahru-Tunnuhatti road at Barian Gala.The Kihar-Chamba road wasblocked at Gharatnala and Rohala Nullah near Sundla, the Tissa-Chamba road atPangola Nullah, and the Chamba-Pangi road at Saach Pass.

Rail traffic disrupted

Rail traffic bound for Himachal Pradesh beyond Ropar town inPunjab has been snapped since Sunday owing to damage to the tracks, officialssaid. Twelve trains were suspended.

Train services between Shimla and Kalka, which weredisrupted on Sunday after landslips, was normal.Meanwhile, chief minister JaiRam Thakur on Monday held an emergency video conferencing with deputycommissioners of all the 12 district to asses the damages. The  government has estimated a loss of ₹560 crore due to rains.

The district of Hamirpur alone suffered a loss of ₹7.87 crore due to heavy rains during last twenty-four hours, deputycommissioner Harikesh Meena said.

“The total loss to the government and private propertiesduring the current monsoon season was around ₹65.38crore,” he said, adding that timely relief has been provided to theaffected persons.