Heavy downpour in North India; two killed

New Delhi: Two persons were on Tuesday killed in North India due to heavy rains which also disrupted normal life at many places in the region.

The national capital received the season`s highest rainfall which brought along with it woes of water-logging and traffic jams affecting the movement of thousands of office-goers.

Rain gauges recorded 54.5 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours, which is the highest for the city since the monsoon began in June-end.

The maximum temperature recorded was 29.4 degrees celsius, four notches less than normal, and the minimum was 24.8mm, one less than the usual.

Two persons were killed and normal life was disrupted in Himachal Pradesh as heavy rains triggered landslides at many places disrupting vehicular traffic. Many hydro-power projects were shut down due to rising silt levels.

The country`s largest Nathpa-Jhakri hydropower (1500 MW), Karchham-Wangtoo (1000 MW) Baspa (300 MW) and Chamera -I and Chamera-II (600 Mw) were shut down since yesterday due to alarming rise in silt level.

The silt level rose to 57,000 particle per million at Khab while it was 13,000 ppm at Nathpa dam against permissible level of 4,000 ppm.

The situation was worse in Karchham-Wangtoo and Baspa projects and all the units of these plants generating about 3,400 MW power have been closed to avoid damage to heavy machinery.

Continuous heavy rain in the last 60 hours wreaked havoc in lower hills of Kangra damaging houses, roads, bridges, water supply schemes, school buildings and affecting power supply.
Parts of Uttar Pradesh also received rainfall.
PTI