Flash flood in Himachal, 8 feared dead

At least eight persons were feared dead after being washed away in a flash flood in Paonta Sahib area of Sirmaur district on Saturday

Four vehicles, carrying members of a marriage party, were trapped in the flash flood due to heavy rains at Haripur Khol village in Paonta Sahib, said Deputy Commissioner Sirmaur, PS Chauhan.

Eight persons are missing, said Chauhan.

Chauhan along with Superintendent of Police Rameshwar Singh Thakur rushed to the spot.

Massive search operations have been launched and police and home guard jawans were deployed to trace the missing persons, "but the chances of their survival were very dim," a senior official said.

Several persons were inside the vehicles. However, most of them managed to save themselves, leaving eight, who are still missing, DSP Paonta Sahib, NS Negi, said.

Water level in almost all the rivers and their tributaries was rising.

Several parts of Himachal, including Shimla and Manali which recorded 13.6 mm and 13 mm of rains are experiencing intermittent heavy rains since last evening, triggering landslides in remote areas, reports reaching Shimla said.

Kangra, Shimla, Sirmaur, Hamir, Bilaspur, Solan and Chamba received heavy rains till this morning and Mehre was wettest in the region with 95 mm rains while Ghamroor and Kahu had 90 mm and 70 mm of rains, followed by Dharamsala, Ghumarwin, Sujanpur Tira and Gohar 68.5 mm each.

Nahan got 64.5 mm, Kasol 59 mm, Kasauli 57 mm, Bangana 55 mm, Jhandutta and Hamirpur 50 mm, Nadaun 45 mm, Dharmpur 44 mm and Sundernagar 42 mm. Kheri and Sangrah received 40 mm rains while Baijnath, Palampur, Solan and Nagrota Surian had 39, 37, 34.5 and 34 mm of rains respectively.

The minimum and maximum temperatures dropped by three to five degrees Celsius across the state following rains.