Shimla:
Himachal Pradesh’s monsoon damage bill has crossed Rs 1,183 crore, even as the state has recorded 103 deaths and four missing persons in monsoon-related disasters and other listed causes during the period from June 30 to August 28.
The latest assessment of the State Emergency Operations Centre shows the monsoon has hit the hill state on multiple fronts, damaging roads, water-supply infrastructure, power installations, houses, crops and other public and private assets. The cumulative monetary loss has been assessed at Rs 1,18,388.50 lakh, or Rs 1,183.89 crore.
The detailed death assessment records 103 deaths from landslides, cloudbursts, drowning, lightning, fire, electrocution, falls from trees or steep rocks and other causes. Landslides account for 18 deaths, cloudbursts 13, lightning 11 and electrocution 10, while falls from trees or steep rocks have claimed 31 lives.
The human cost, however, does not end with disaster-related deaths. The state has separately recorded 146 deaths in road accidents during the period, taking the combined toll under the two separately reported categories to 249 lives. Road accidents have emerged as another major source of fatalities, with Sirmaur reporting 19 deaths, Shimla and Una 18 each, and Chamba and Kangra 17 each.
The disaster pattern remains distinctly Himalayan. Lahaul-Spiti alone has reported 13 landslide deaths, while Kangra and Sirmaur have recorded six lightning deaths each. Shimla has reported eight deaths under the category of falls from trees or steep rocks.
The biggest financial blow has come to public infrastructure. PWD has reported losses of Rs 897.58 crore, while the Jal Shakti Vibhag has suffered losses of Rs 258.61 crore. The two departments together account for the overwhelming bulk of the public-property damage recorded in the assessment.
The power sector has suffered losses of Rs 5.31 crore, while damage under the health sector has been assessed at Rs 2.14 crore.
The assessment also covers damage to education, fisheries, rural development, urban development, animal husbandry and other government departments.
Homes have not been spared either. The report records 32 fully damaged pucca houses, 65 fully damaged kaccha houses, 135 partially damaged pucca houses and 297 partially damaged kaccha houses.
Shops and factories, labour sheds and huts, cow sheds, gharats and cremation grounds have also suffered damage.
Agriculture and horticulture have also figured in the damage assessment, with crop losses separately recorded under agriculture and horticulture. The monetary loss under the crop-damage head has been assessed at Rs 8.32 crore.
At the district level, Kangra has reported the highest monetary loss at Rs 3.69 crore, followed by Chamba at Rs 2.68 crore and Shimla at Rs 2.51 crore. Kinnaur has reported Rs 1.97 crore, while Sirmaur and Mandi have recorded losses of about Rs 1.91 crore each under the district-wise assessment.
With four persons still reported missing and the monsoon damage continuing to accumulate, the latest figures underline the scale of the challenge confronting Himachal Pradesh—not only from extreme weather events but also from the persistent vulnerability of its roads and mountain infrastructure.
