Weather updates: IMD issues yellow alert in Himachal Pradesh, predicts rains in THESE states till August 26

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow warning of heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh for Friday. The weather office has said that there is a possibility of heavy rainfall in parts of some districts across the state.

"There is a possibility of heavy rainfall in parts of the districts of Solan, Shimla, Sirmaur, Mandi, Kullu, Una, Bilaspur and Kangra. We have issued a yellow alert for August 24 and 25," IMD Scientist Sandeep Kumar Sharma told ANI.

Heavy and persistent rainfall over the last few days have added to the woes of the state. A row of buildings in Kullu district collapsed Thursday and hundreds of travellers were stranded in relief camps after landslides blocked the road to Mandi in rain-battered Himachal Pradesh.

Three more bodies were recovered on Thursday from the rubble of the landslide that buried a Shiv Temple in Shimla's Summer Hill area on August 14.

About 120 people have died in landslides and other rain-related incidents in the state this month, about 80 of them since August 14. Altogether, 242 people have died in Himachal Pradesh since the monsoon began on June 24.

So far, 27 bodies have been recovered from the debris of the three major landslides that hit Shimla recently. While 20 bodies have been recovered from the Shiv temple, five have been recovered in Fagli and two in Krishnanagar, Superintendent of Police, Shimla, Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi told PTI.

As per Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the state has suffered losses of Rs 12,000 crore so far.

IMD weather updates

Besides Himachal, IMD said light or moderate fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy rainfall is likely to occur over Uttarakhand and East Uttar Pradesh on August 25.

Apart from these, rainfall activity is also likely over West Bengal, Sikkim, Bihar and Odisha till August 26 and Jharkhand on August 25. "Isolated very heavy rainfall is also likely over Assam and Meghalaya during August 24 to 26 and over Arunachal Pradesh on 24 and 25 August, 2023," the weather agency said in its bulletin on Thursday.