Himachal CM conducts aerial survey to assess damage in flood affected region

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Lahaul-Spiti: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur conducts aerial survey of the flood-affected region of Lahaul-Spiti district on Sunday.

Jairam Thakur said that the National Disaster Management team has also been moved towards the Lahaul-Spiti district.State Disaster Management Authority Director Sudesh Kumar Mokhta said, "So far, 211 people and 438 animals have died in incidents related to rain, cloudburst, and landslide in Himachal Pradesh during this monsoon season."

Himachal Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority has further informed that the estimated loss worth Rs 632 crores has occurred in the state due to rain, cloudburst, landslides.

Meanwhile, a total of 221 people, comprising tourists from New Delhi, Punjab, Odisha and Maharashtra, were rescued by road from various places by Saturday.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and the local administration have been deployed for the rescue operation.

Earlier, the stranded people could not be airlifted owing to bad climatic conditions, a government official told IANS.

The newly hired chopper had been stationed in Kullu town since its arrival on the direction of the Chief Minister so that it could be deployed in airlifting people as the weather got cleared, he added.

Seven people were washed away in a flash flood in the Tozing rivulet in Udaipur subdivision, some 15 km from district headquarters Keylong, after a cloudburst on July 27. Three people are still missing.