Authorities closed the Badrinath National Highway 7 (NH 7) at Chhinka in the State's Chamoli district leaving many commuters, including pilgrims and tourists travelling to and returning from the famed Badrinath shrine.
Passengers stranded for about 24 hours were seen sitting alongside the road waiting for roads to reopen and head to their destination. Local police had blocked the road section at various places to avoid overcrowding in the exit points of the highways.
Despite facing numerous obstacles like extreme weather conditions and landslides, a large number of devotees are reaching Uttarakhand's Kedarnath Dham.
"The work of smoothening the blocked Badrinath National Highway in Chamoli, Chhinka is going on. About 100 meters of the highway has been blocked due to a heavy landslide from a hill near Chhinka on Thursday morning due to rain. To remove heavy debris from the highway, additional machines ha
Apart from the 19 people reported dead, three have been reported missing, 34 have been injured and a total of 352 animals died in nine incidents of landslides, six incidents of flash floods and one incident of cloudburst reported between June 24 to June 28 in Himachal Pradesh.
Tourists and various other passengers on the roads of Himachal have been stranded in heavy traffic jams, especially on the two National Highways, which are heavily blocked due to landslides and flash flooding. The Chandigarh-Manali highway has been blocked near 7 Mile at Mandi.
The Jammu-Srinagar national highway was blocked for vehicular traffic following landslides due to heavy rainfall in Mehad and Cafeteria Morh of Ramban district on Sunday.
Flash flood has hit the Bagipul area of Himachal Pradesh's Mandi district with over 200 people including tourists and locals stranded, informed the police on Sunday.
Incessant rains in the last 24 hours, have caused extensive damage in several parts of Mandi district. At the same time, roads have been shut in many areas. Several vehicles were washed away due to flash flood in a rivulet at Janjehli in Mandi district.