Heavy rain in Himachal, rivers in spate

Shimla, July 18 (IANS) The hills of Himachal Pradesh continued to experience moderate to heavy rainfall Friday and all major rivers and their tributaries were in spate, officials said.

"Monsoon is active in the state. Precipitation occurred at most of the places with heavy rainfall at some places in Sirmaur district," said an official of the Met Office.

He said from Saturday, the monsoon would be dormant. "It will be active again July 22-24."

Sangrah town in Sirmaur district received 92 mm of rainfall, while Dharampur in Solan district received 68 mm and Khandrala in Shimla district received 61.6 mm of rainfall.

Shimla received 50 mm of rainfall, while Dharamsala got 28.8 mm and Manali 3.4 mm.

A government spokesperson said Satluj, Beas and Yamuna rivers and their tributaries were in spate in Kinnaur, Shimla, Kullu, Mandi, Bilaspur and Sirmaur districts.

These rivers enter Punjab and Haryana.

Kullu Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kanwar told IANS that an alert has been issued, advising people not to go near the rivers.

He said continuous rainfall for the past three days have increased the water level in the Beas river and its tributaries, including the Parvati and the Tirthan.