Kinnaur, July 3: Traffic has resumed along National Highway-5 near Cholling after overnight flash floods and a cloudburst briefly disrupted the strategic Kinnaur route. Heavy monsoon rainfall sent a torrent of slush and boulders from the Miru Nullah across the highway, affecting a 30-metre stretch and damaging two light motor vehicles. Local authorities executed a rapid response to clear the debris and assist commuters.
Kinnaur Superintendent of Police Sushil Kumar declared that police and administrative teams are coordinating relief and traffic regulation on the ground. “We appeal to residents, commuters, and tourists to avoid unnecessary travel, stay away from rivers and nullahs, and strictly follow official advisories,” Kumar asserted.
The incident unfolded in the early hours of Friday morning in the Nichar sub-division. Despite the sudden influx of water and debris near Cholling Middle School, emergency protocols ensured that all occupants from the trapped vehicles were brought to safety without any reported casualties.
“A JCB machine was immediately deployed at Choling for restoration work, and the highway was reopened for traffic around 10am,” Kinnaur Deputy Commissioner Amit Sharma declared. The sub-division also observed a temporary blockage on the Ribba-Kanda link road due to flooding in the nearby Ribba drain.
State emergency teams are actively tracking road conditions across Himachal Pradesh, with sixty roads blocked statewide on Friday morning. The State Emergency Operation Centre noted that Kullu district registered thirty closures, followed by fourteen in Sirmaur and seven in Chamba, while the Atal Tunnel Rohtang route faced a temporary closure at Yurnath.
Public utilities are receiving steady attention from repair crews after the weather affected local networks. Work is underway to address forty-eight damaged distribution transformers that impacted power supply in Mandi and other regions, alongside efforts to restore twenty-seven water schemes that experienced service pauses primarily within Chamba district.
