Himachal braces up as IMD issues yellow alert till Friday

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], August 25 (ANI): The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert in the state on Thursday and Friday. The weather office said that there is a possibility of heavy rainfall in parts of some districts across the state.
"There is a possibility of heavy rainfall in parts of the districts of Solan, Shimla, Sirmaur, Mandi, Kullu, Una, Bilaspur and Kangra. We have issued a yellow alert for 24 and 25 August...," IMD Scientist Sandeep Kumar Sharma said speaking to ANI.
Speaking about heavy rainfall received by the hill state, the IMD Scientist said, "In the last 24 hours, light to moderate rainfall was reported in most areas of the state. In districts like Mandi, Kangra, Shimla and Sirmaur heavy to heavy rainfall is reported. Speaking amount-wise, 154 mm of rainfall was recorded in Joginder Nagar, 136 mm in Palampur, and 70 mm in Sirmaur. In Shimla city, 80 mm of rain was recorded in the last 24 hours..."
Sandeep Kumar Sharma, however, said that the state will get some relief from August 26 onwards.
"From 26 August, the weather will change. Districts of plains and middle areas will receive light to moderate rains... From 26 to 30 August, the activity will reduce...," he said.
Speaking about the intense rainfall received by the hill state in this season, the IMD scientist said, "From June till August, Himachal Pradesh has received 41per cent more rainfall than usual. The recorded rainfall is 804mm. The normal is 571 mm. Only Lahaul Spiti has received less rainfall than usual... Shimla has the most departure of 103%. Bilaspur has seen 86% more rainfall. August saw 10% more rainfall than usual and the most was in Mandi and Bilaspur..."
The Himachal Pradesh administration has taken a slew of measures in view of the yellow alert issued by the Indian Meteorological Department. 
A total of 30 routes including Mandi, Kullu and Dharmshala have been suspended owing to heavy rains in the state, according to an order from the state transport department.
Meanwhile, the Himachal Pradesh High Court postponed the Screening Test for the post of Driver on the Establishment of District Judiciary owing to "hostile weather conditions" in the state.
"The High Court of Himachal Pradesh has postponed the Screening Test for the post of Driver on the Establishment of District Judiciary, which was scheduled to be held on 27.08.2023, at 11:00 AM to 01:00 PM, due to hostile weather conditions in the State of Himachal Pradesh. The next date of the Screening Test will be informed later on," a statement issued by the Public Relations Officer of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh read.
In another incident, the 14th battalion of the NDRF rescued 51 stranded people from Shehnu Gouni village and Kholanala Panchayat in Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh.
Cloud burst incidents took place at Gram Panchayat Kholanal, near Hanogi Mata Temple in Mandi district and 300 people were stranded or trapped in the incident.
The NDRF team promptly responded and left towards the incident site from Seraj Bhavan Kullu.
Due to the landslide, the road was blocked in many places. The NDRF team moved on foot from Hanogi to the incident site at Kholanala village in Mandi district.
The team covered approximately eight kilometres distance towards the incident site and reached Shehnu Gouni village and found that there were 16 men, 20 women and 15 children trapped on account of the cloud burst. The team rescued them and shifted them to Hanogi Village with a sub-team of NDRF.
The remaining team with SDM, Tehsildar and BDO of Bali Chowki moved towards the incident site at Kholanal village in Mandi district on foot. They confirmed that the stranded people have been shifted to safe locations.
Earlier on Thursday, the Mandi district administration sent a consignment of food items and medicines to a remote area of the district with the help of an Air Force helicopter.
On the first flight, 55 kits of 15 kg each of food items and three boxes of medicines were sent. Each kit of food items contains flour, rice, two kinds of pulses, oil and spices. The chopper took off with material from Kangnidhar of Mandi. Relief material was also sent to Karthach village. Another flight has been scheduled to transport relief material to two other places in the state.
On the other hand, the police and local administration inspected the area in Kullu's Anni town, where several buildings collapsed hours after a massive landslide struck the town earlier in the day. (ANI)