Landslide blocks Shimla-Kalka national highway near Solan for five hours

A landslide in Himachal Pradesh's Solan district on Monday morning brought traffic movement to a halt on the Shimla-Kalka national highway near Shamlech village for around five hours, officials said here.

They said no casualties were reported in the incident that occurred around 7.30 am near the Solan bypass.

Vehicles were seen stranded on both sides of the road and the local police were seen initially asking motorists to turn back and take the Old Barog route instead.

The administration deployed excavators immediately after the incident and the road was subsequently cleared for vehicular traffic, the officials said.

A total of 256 roads, including four national highways, were closed for vehicular traffic in Himachal Pradesh following snow and rain in recent days.

A maximum of 233 roads were blocked in Lahaul and Spiti, 10 in Kinnaur, five in Chamba, four in Kullu, two in Mandi, and one each in Shimla and Kangra districts, the state emergency operation centre said.

As many as 56 transformers are out of order while four water supply schemes are disrupted. The local MeT office has predicted rain and snow in the state till March 24 except on March 20.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)