Bright sunny day in Himachal

SHIMLA - After three days of moderate to heavy rainfall, the hills of Himachal Pradesh Friday woke up to a bright sunny morning but with a mild chill in the air.

“Almost the entire hill state witnessed a bright sunny day this (Friday) morning after days of heavy rain in middle and lower hills and snow in higher reaches,” Manmohan Singh, director of the meteorological office here, told IANS.

But he said the state would see mild spells of rain Friday. “The monsoon will start receding by next week,” he added.

The mercury levels have dropped, triggering a mild cold wave, Singh said.

Shimla recorded a minimum temperature of 13.4 degrees Celsius Friday compared to Thursday’s 13.6 degrees, whereas Kalpa, the picturesque town in Kinnaur district, saw a low of 7.5 degrees against Thursday’s 8.7 degrees Celsius.

A government spokesperson said as rainfall had subdued since Thursday, the water level in the Satluj, the Beas and the Yamuna rivers and their tributaries has started receding.

Incessant rains had also caused massive landslides on National Highways 21 and 22, especially in interior areas in Shimla, Kinnaur, Mandi and Kullu districts, hampering vehicular traffic.

The spokesperson said work is on to restore the roads in most of the areas and these would likely be opened to traffic by Friday evening.

Shimla got 84.2 mm of rain from Wednesday morning till 8.30 a.m. Thursday, Nahan town in Sirmaur district 53.6 mm, and Sundernagar in Mandi district saw 32 mm, Kalpa in Kinnaur district 21 mm while 6.4 mm of rain was recorded in Dharamsala in Kangra district.

According to the Met Office, from June 1 to Sep 22 the state saw 858.9 mm of rain against the average of 769.9 mm, which is equivalent to 12 percent surplus rainfall.