The monsoon has so far claimed 187 lives since its onset on June 24 in Himachal Pradesh, the State Disaster Management Authority said on Saturday. According to HPSDMA, till now 34 people are missing and 215 people have been injured. 702 houses have been damaged, besides 7161 houses partially damaged in the state. 241 shops have been damaged while 2218 cow sheds have been damaged due to rain and floods. “So far a loss of 5620.22 crores rupees has been estimated. There have been 72 incidents of landslides in the state besides 52 incidents of flash floods,” HPSDMA said.
Over 650 roads including three national highways are closed. Earlier, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, said that the state has faced the harshest rain and flood disasters in the past 75 years. He also said that the loss incurred by the state due to the rain-induced damages could reach 8,000 crore rupees. The Chief Minister said there is a need