Himachal Pradesh: Landslide blocks Manali-Leh NH near Keylong, over 400 people stranded for hours

Shimla: Nearly 400 people were stranded for several hours today after a landslide triggered by heavy rains blocked the Manali-Leh National Highway near Patseu, around 50 km from Keylong, in Himachal Pradesh.

More than 150 vehicles were stranded and commuters had to spent the night on the highway. People were rescued later this afternoon and have reached Manali safely, an official spokesperson said.

The information reached late and there were no connectivity in the area, the spokesperson said.

Teams of the Border Road Organization, and Lahaul and Spiti district administration were rushed to the spot and the blockade was cleared this afternoon after about 10 hours, Lahaul and Spiti Deputy Commissioner Deva Singh said.

He said there was no cloudburst but road was blocked due to massive landslide following heavy rains.

Director of the local MeT office, Manmohan said the southwest monsoon is advancing and is likely to reach the state in the next 48 hours.

The Met office has predicted wet spell in the region for next six days up to July 4 and warned of heavy to very heavy rains in the mid and lower hills tomorrow.

Meanwhile, several areas of the state were lashed by heavy rains and maximum temperatures further dropped by three to four degrees.

Una recorded a high of 28.6 degrees Celsius, Dharamshala 27 degrees Celsius, Sundernagar 25.6 degrees Celsius, Kangra 24.8 degrees Celsius, Bhuntar 23 degrees Celsius, Nahan 22.4 degrees Celsius, Nahan 22.4 degrees Celsius, Solan 22.2 degrees Celsius and Shimla 19.8 degrees Celsius.

Dharamshala received 65 mm of rains in the past 24 hours, Hamirpur 64 mm, Nagrota Suriyan 63 mm, Dehra Gopipur 62 mm, Saloni 60 mm, Bharwain 51 mm, Guler 50mm, Nahan 45 mm, Mehre Barsar 43 mm, Kangra 42 mm, Amb 40 mm.

Naina Devi received 31 mm Sujanpur Tihra 30 mm, Kandaghat 29 mm, Una 27, Bangana 23 mm, Kheri 20 mm, Pandoh 19 mm , Una 15 mm, Shimla 13 mm, Sarahan and Solan 12 mm each, and Agahr 11mm.

The minimum temperatures also dropped by two to three degrees and Manali was coldest in the night with a minimum temperature of 13.2 degrees Celsius.

Kalpa and Keylong in tribal Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti district recorded a low of 13.4 degrees Celsius and 14 degrees Celsius respectively.