NEW DELHI, Aug 9: Widespread rains drenched vast swathes of north India today leading to flooding in several areas as one person was washed away in a swollen rivulet in Himachal Pradesh and several tourists were rescued by the Army in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.
North Western Railway today cancelled five trains between Rajasthan and parts of Gujarat due to heavy rains damaging rail route in Ahmedabad division, an official said here.
The national capital got drenched in the month’s highest rainfall today which brought down the mercury considerably even as most of the low-lying areas witnessed water-logging.
The maximum temperature was recorded at 29.6 degrees Celsius, four notches below the normal level.
While Safdarjung observatory recorded 41.2 mm rainfall through the day, the city received 30.2 mm rains from 6.30 to 8.30 AM. The season’s highest rainfall was recorded at 93.8 mm on July 11. As per MeT office, Delihiites can look forward to more showers till August 12.
In Himachal, one person was washed away in swollen rivulet in Amb area of Una district as heavy rains lashed parts of Una, Kangra and Hamirpur districts disrupting normal life.
However, the flood water receded in Dharampur area, where flash flood had claimed four lives yesterday but the bodies of two persons buried under debris are yet to extricated while there was no trace of two mission persons, feared to have been washed away.
Heavy rains occurred in lower reaches of Himachal Pradesh including state capital Shimla.
The local MeT office has warned of very heavy rains at isolated places in mid hills tomorrow and rains and thundershowers at many places in lower, mid and higher hills over next six days upto August 15.
Several villages in Ladakh of Jammu and Kashmir were also cut off from the main land due to flooding and landslides. About 400 stranded tourists have been evacuated by the Army from flood-hit areas of Ladakh, which witnessed unprecedented heavy rains coupled with mud and rock slides.
Rains also lashed many places in Punjab and Haryana causing the mercury to dip by a few notches. The Union Territory of Chandigarh continued to receive rains for the third consecutive day today.
In Haryana, Narnaul was lashed by sharp showers while Ambala, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Panchkula, Sonepat, Mahendergarh were among other places in the state to receive rains.
Mohali, Ropar, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Jalandhar and Phagwara were among places in Punjab that were lashed by rain.
According to a MeT department report in Chandigarh, day temperatures in the region dropped a few notches below normal levels. (PTI)
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