Southwest monsoon remains dormant in Himachal Pradesh

Shimla, Aug 16 :  The southwest monsoon remained subdued on Thursday in Himachal Pradesh with most of the areas not experiencing any rains for the past two days, the Met Office said.

There could be no major rains in the state till this weekend, it added.

"Monsoon has been dormant for the past two days as precipitation occurred at isolated places in the past 24 hours (since Wednesday)," an official from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) told IANS.

Monsoon will continue to be weak. Light to moderate rains are likely at a few places over middle and lower hills and at isolated places over higher reaches for four days, he said.

The tourist towns of Manali, Dharamsala, Palampur and Dalhousie saw no rains though Shimla experienced mild spells of rain. It saw a low of 16.7 degrees Celsius.

Nahan in Sirmaur district recorded the state's highest rainfall of 3.2 mm.

After heavy rains on August 13, road traffic was restored on the Chandigarh-Shimla, Chamba-Pathankot and Chandigarh-Manali National Highways and on almost all major link roads in the state, a Met official told IANS.

The water level in the Beas river that also rose abnormally, touching the Chandigarh-Manali National Highway 21 near the Hanogi temple, has also receded.

The Satluj, Beas and Yamuna rivers and their tributaries are still in spate in Kinnaur, Shimla, Kullu, Mandi, Bilaspur and Sirmaur districts, the official said.