Himachal Pradesh on yellow alert for heavy rains on August 21, 22

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday announced a financial assistance of Rs 15 crore to Himachal Pradesh where heavy rains and landslides have wreaked havoc “An assistance of Rs 15 crore will be given by the Rajasthan government to help the people suffering from the difficult situation created by heavy rains and landslides in Himachal Pradesh,”  Gehlot said in a post on X, formerly called Twitter.

The local meteorological station on Friday issued a yellow warning for heavy rains, thunderstorm and lightning at isolated places in 10 districts of Himachal Pradesh on August 21 and 22 even as the monsoon activity remained subdued in the state.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday announced a financial assistance of Rs 15 crore to Himachal Pradesh where heavy rains and landslides have wreaked havoc.

The government of Himachal Pradesh declares the whole state as 'natural calamity affected area'.

The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to declare the massive damage caused by heavy rains as a state calamity, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Friday. He said a notification in this regard would be issued Friday. The state is also waiting a response from the Centre to declare the disaster in Himachal Pradesh as a national calamity. Heavy rains have lashed the hill state since Sunday, triggering landslides in several districts, including Shimla. Talking to media, the chief minister said rescue operations are going on in full swing and the state government is making efforts to help the affected families especially those whose houses have been damaged in the flash floods and landslides with its own resources.

After heavy rainfall in the state, the water level in the Pindar river in Tharali area of Chamoli district has also surged, a senior official said on Friday."There was heavy rain in the area late at night yesterday, after which the water level of the Pranmati River started flowing above the danger mark. Due to this the Pindar river also came in spate," Chamoli District Magistrate Himanshu Khurana said.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Friday announced to provide a financial assistance of Rs 11 crore to Himachal Pradesh, where heavy rains and landslides have wreaked havoc, a government official here said. Baghel on Thursday spoke to his Himachal Pradesh counterpart Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu over phone and took stock of the situation in the northern state and assured to extend support to deal with it, he said. In a statement issued on Friday, Baghel said a severe natural calamity has hit the 'Devbhoomi' (land of gods) Himachal Pradesh and in such a situation, people of Chhattisgarh are standing with the people of the northern state.

In the Tharali area of Chamoli district, once again the sky rains have created trouble. There was heavy rain in Sol Valley last night, after which the water level of Pranmati River started flowing above the danger mark, due to which the Pindar River also came in spate, said District Administration, Chamoli. Due to the overflow of river, there is an atmosphere of panic among the people. Last night in Tharali area, the local youth police and administration team continuously asked people to go to safe places. There is no news of any casualty so far, but houses and agricultural land have been damaged.

Heavy rains disrupted normal life in the Kaluwala area of Dehradun in the early hours of Friday. The rainwater entered the houses and caused waterlogging on the streets, officials said. According to State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), information was received from the Disaster Control Room that incessant rainfall created major waterlogging in the streets and that rainwater has also entered people's homes in Dehradun's Kaluwala area, disrupting daily life.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, while presiding over a high-level meeting, directed the concerned departments to take appropriate steps to increase the number of Automatic Weather Stations. CM Sukhu also stressed on setting up a weather observatory centre in the state. More AWS in the state will help in obtaining real-time data related to weather forecasts, which would further help in taking apposite measures, well within time, an offical statement from Himachal Government said on Thursday.

State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) Commandant Manikant Mishra on Thursday inspected the rescue and relief operations in Jakhan village which was hit by a landslide on Wednesday. Commandant Mishra issued guidelines to the deployed teams for carrying out relief and rescue operations at the earliest.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur while referring to the damage caused by heavy rains and landslides in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday said that the parties especially Congress should stop doing politics and focus on providing relief in this hour of crisis. He said that he will visit Himachal on August 20-21 and meet the affected people there.

"The state witnessed scattered rainfall in the last 24 hours. Monsoon is on the higher side this time. If we see the data, there is 43 per cent excess rainfall since June 1 in Himachal Pradesh. Scattered rainfall will occur in the next 4-5 days. There will be controlled rainfall in the state till August 25," said Surender Paul, IMD Scientist.