Himachal cloudbursts: 9 dead, 45 still missing

Shimla: With the recovery of a body from Rajban village in Himachal's Mandi, the death toll due to flash floods triggered by cloudbursts in three districts has increased to nine as the rescuers continue to search for about 45 missing people.

According to officials, 410 rescuers from teams of the Army, NDRF, SDRF, ITBP, CISF, Himachal Pradesh Police and home guards are involved in the hunt with the help of drones.

About 45 people have been missing since a series of cloudbursts occurred in Kullu's Nirmand, Sainj and Malana; Mandi's Padhar and Shimla's Rampur subdivision on the night of July 31 and wreaked havoc. The body of 11-year-old Anamika was found under a big boulder, which was blasted by the rescue teams, the officials said.

"The possibility of rescuing people alive is diminishing with each passing hour but we just hope that the bodies are recovered soon as delay would lead to decaying of bodies which would make identification difficult," said Pradhan of Gram Sarpara Mohan Lal Kaptiya.

"A combined rescue operation is underway and efforts are afoot to search for the missing people. We are using various equipment and sensors to detect victims buried or trapped under the debris," said NDRF Commanding Officer Karam Singh whose team along with others is engaged in searching for the missing people in Samej village on the border of Shimla and Kullu district. In Rampur subdivision's Samej village alone, over 30 people are reported missing.

Former chief minister and Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday visited the Sainj area in Kullu district and interacted with the affected families. He said that some of the victims are still awaiting the relief fund and asked the administration to provide help at the earliest.

On Friday, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who visited Samej village, announced an immediate relief of Rs 50,000 for the victims and said they would be given Rs 5,000 monthly for rent for the next three months along with gas, food and other essential items. He also said that 115 houses, 23 cowsheds, 10 shops and three fish farms have perished in this disaster besides motorable, footbridges and vehicles in cloudburst since Wednesday night.

The state has suffered a loss of Rs 662 crore since the onset of monsoon on June 27 till August 3. Seventy-nine people have lost their lives in rain-related incidents, as per the state emergency operation centre.