Hundreds of people residing near Beas River have been evacuated to safe places after flashfloods triggered by a cloudburst near the Rohtang tunnel in the Solang Nullah area at Dhundi, 30 km from Manali, on Friday night. Fearing flooding, residents of five villages located downstream were moved to a safer place.
The evacuation was coordinated by Manali SDM Balbir Thakur with the help of a team of Army and police personnel at the Palchan camp. Huge boulders in the surging Solang River blocked the transit bridge, thus diverting the surging water towards these villages, snapping the highway at many points. No loss of life has been reported so far and a large number of tourists have been evacuated safely.
Incident took place at about 9.30pm and in a meanwhile, local police, Border Road Organisation personnel and a team the Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment have reached the spot to take stock of the situation.
Update:
One person is reported to wash away besides some vehicles of BRO parked on the edge of the road and killed. The body of the deceased has been recovered.
