Snow and rain in Himachal: Electricity supply disrupted, 87 roads blocked

Kullu: A total of 87 roads were blocked and many areas were plunged into darkness as snowfall and rain at many places of Himachal Pradesh ended a prolonged dry spell in the state.
According to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), 58 roads remained blocked in Shimla district on Monday, followed by 17 in Kinnaur, 6 in Kangra, 2 in Lahaul-Spiti and 1 in Kullu.
A total of 457 distribution transformer regions (DTRs) were also disrupted, plunging many areas of the state into darkness. As per the SEOC report, the highest 134 DTRs remained non-functional in Chamba district, followed by 131 in Mandi, 93 in Sirmaur, 45 in Shimla, 30 in Kullu and 24 in Kinnaur district of the state.
The rains and snow in the last 24 hours at many places in the state have also broken a long dry spell that lasted more than two months.
According to meteorological centre, Shimla, it snowed 6.7 cm in Koksar, 3 cm in Keylong, 2.5 cm in Gondhla in Lahaul-Spiti district; 5 cm in Jubbal, 4 cm in Chaupal, 2.5 cm in Shimla, 5 cm in Khadrala in Shimla district; 3.6 cm in Sangla, 2.5 cm in Nichar, 1.8 cm in Kalpa and 1 cm in Pooh of Kinnaur district.
The state recorded rainfall of 1.2 mm, which was 17% less than the normal of 1.5 mm.
Lahaul-Spiti recorded the highest rainfall of 3.1 mm, followed by 1.8 mm in Kinnaur, 1.6 mm in Shimla and 1.2 mm in Solan district of the state.
In October the state had recorded a mere 0.7 mm of rains and in November, it rained just 0.2 mm rain, 99% less than normal precipitation of 19.7 mm, making it one of the driest months ever.
On Monday, Tabo in Lahaul Spiti was the coldest place in Himachal with the lowest minimum temperature of -12.3 degrees Celsius.
The weather department has predicted dry weather in the state for the next seven days.
A number of minor accidents took place in Lahaul-Spiti on Sunday evening as snow-covered slippery roads made driving risky as well as difficult. The police had to guide over 800 tourists in a total of 489 vehicles to safety, said a police officer from the Lahaul-Spiti police department.