Cloudburst damages houses in Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu

Kullu (Himachal Pradesh) [India]: Several houses and agricultural crops were damaged after a cloud burst at the Gadsa Valley area in Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district on Tuesday said authorities.

The incident happened in the early morning. “We were informed that there is a cloudburst in Gadsa Valley. The incident occurred at around 4.00 am. Twenty-three families have been affected by the incident. Five houses have been completely damaged,” Ashutosh Garg, Deputy Commissioner, Kullu said.

The official added that twenty families had been given compensation.
“Twenty families have been given compensation and as far as rehabilitating the families is concerned, the matter is being looked at on a priority basis,” Ashutosh Garg said.
Revenue officials visited the spot to assess the situation. Due to the incident some of the link roads of the area are blocked while the power supply has been disrupted.

This Monsoon Season season, according to government data, 31 people have lost their lives in rain-related incidents in  Kullu district. While 8 people have been injured and two people are missing in the district as well.

Following water overflow due to a malfunction in a gate of the Malana Dam, the Kullu district administration had on Monday asked locals living on the banks of the Parvati River to stay vigilant.

Panic gripped the village of Malana on Tuesday when water from the 86-megawatt Malana Hydro Power Project dam in the Kullu district started overflowing due to the malfunctioning of its gates, an official said.

According to Deputy Commissioner Kullu Ashutosh Garg, in view of the accumulation of water and silt in the Malana dam, an alert was sounded as soon as the administration received information about the flooding of the water level in River Parvati due to the gate block of Malana Hydro Power Stage-two Dam.

“In village Malana of Manikarna Valley of Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh, Malana Hydro Power Project Stage-two started to overflow due to the gate block of the dam. In such a situation, in view of the possibility of a dam burst, an alert has been issued to the residential areas and many residential areas have been evacuated along the banks of the Parvati River,” said Deputy Commissioner Kullu Ashutosh Garg.