Shimla: Heavy rains pounded the hills through the night, the weatherman, early morning, announced arrival of an early monsoon as most weather stations in the state reported rain in excess of 100 percent during a normal year for June so far.
Last year the monsoon in Himachal arrived on July 5, said Manmohan Singh, meteorological director for the state. On the whole the state in June has recorded 87.4 mm of rain which is 155 percent more than normal for the period, he added.
Highest rain of 191.6 mm has been recorded in Kangra district against a normal of 41.2 mm for the period, which is 365 percent more than normal for the region, data tabulated by the met office revealed.
Against a normal of 22.9 mm, Una recorded 116.9 mm of rain in June which is 411 percent beyond normal for the period. Mandi district has recorded 176.5 mm of rain, Sirmaur 158.4 mm and Solan district 141.8 mm of rain in first two weeks of June.
Station wise, Joginder Nagar has already recorded 415 mm of rain, followed by Dharamshala with 335 mm and Palampur with 306.6 mm of rain in June.
Only the tribal districts of Lahaul and Spiti, and Kinnaur have received deficient rainfall, said the met officer.
The prevailing wet weather has forced residents and tourists pull out light woolens as day temperatures have dropped. The day high temperature in the city here was 23.4 degree Celsius, in Dharamshala it was 27.6 and at Kullu it was 32.9 degree Celsius.
Tourist footfalls drop
Most hotels reported houseful for the weekend but booking for next week have started dropping. When contacted tourism officer Surinder Justa said, “hotels were full till Sunday but it is too early to say about next week.”
However, a hotel owner claimed that there were fewer queries for bookings coming up after rains broke out in the plains and in the hills.
Road tarring works come to a halt
Working schedules for bitumen layering on hill roads, an activity undertaken in summer working season days from April to end of June, stands disrupted with the early arrival of rains.
“We had chalked out an intense road repair and construction schedule,” said J Rana, a road engineer with the public works department, “but the rains have forced us to stop the road tarring jobs.”
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
