Heavy rain lashes Amritsar

Chandigarh, Sep 2 (UNI) Heavy rain pounded Amritsar as monsoon remained vigorous in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, triggering house collapses and landslides even as higher reaches in the hill state had another spell of snowfal during the past 24 hours.

Moderate to heavy rain lashed Amritsar and its adjoining areas in Punjab since last night, collapsing mud houses at some places, a report from Amritsar said. About 50 buildings were declared unsafe by the Municipal Corporation in the city.

The Ravi and the Beas rivers were in spate, inundating low-lying areas in Amritsar. However, both the rivers were flowing below the danger mark. The Border Security Force have been kept on high alert in areas along the Ravi river, the report said. The Mand area in Kapurthala district is also inundated due to the swollen Beas river.

Amritsar turned out to be the wettest place in Punjab, recording 136.0 mm rain overnight. The city was experiencing intermittent rains for the past 36 hours. Ludhiana measured 23.6 mm, Nangal dam site 21.0 mm and Patiala 13.2 mm rainfall.

Moderate rain pounded many areas in Haryana overnight and Hissar with 57.4 mm downpour turned out the wettest place in the state.

Kalka recorded 30 mm, Rohtak 16.6, Karnal 14.2 mm and Ambala 5.2 mm rainfall.

Moderate rain also lashed many areas in Himachal Pradesh, including mid and lower hills, triggering fresh landslides even as higher reaches in tribal belt experienced another snowfall.

All rivers, including the Beas, Sutlej and the Ravi and their tributaries flowing through the state were swollen. The rain and snow have considerably brought down the temperature in the state.

Bharthin was the wettest place in Himachal Pradesh, recording 36.8 mm rain till this morning, followed by Sujanpur Tira measuring 30.0, Nagrota Surian 27.6 mm, Gamroor 25.0 mm and Kahu 21.5 mm. Pandoh, Sundernagar, Naudan, Suni and Kasol areas also experienced rainfall.

Shimla and its adjoining areas were lashed by moderate rainfall with the capital town recording 26.6 mm downpour till this morning.

Upper areas of Shimla district, including tourist places also had rainfall forcing tourists to stay indoors.

Chandigarh and its adjoining areas were lashed by high velocity winds, followed by sharp showers this afternoon. The city also experienced rain overnight, recording 8.4 mm, providing respite to people from humid weather conditions.

The Met Office predicted moderate to rather heavy rain or thundershowers at most places in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab during the next 24 hours. It warned of heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places in the region during the period.

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