Shimla, Aug 1 (PTI) Himachal Pradesh received 437.5 mm of rain during the month of July against the normal rainfall of 255.9 mm, an excess of 71 per cent, according to the data issued by the meteorological department on Tuesday.

The department has issued an "orange" alert for heavy rains in isolated places in seven districts -- Bilaspur, Chamba, Kangra, Mandi, Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur -- of Himachal Pradesh on August 3 and 4.

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According to the monthly rainfall data shared by the MeT on Tuesday, eight districts in Himachal received the highest rain in July since 2004 during the same period.

Bilaspur received 459.7 mm of rainfall, Chamba 484.2 mm, Kinnaur 197.3 mm, Kullu 476 mm, Lahaul and Spiti 156.8 mm, Shimla 584.6 mm, Sirmaur 1097.5 mm and Solan 735.7 mm, it said.

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Himachal received 437.5 mm rain during the month of July against normal rainfall of 255.9 mm, an excess of 71 per cent and all districts received excess rains ranging between 11 per cent in Kangra and 199 per cent in Kinnaur, it said.

Eight towns in Himachal broke all the previous records of rain in one day in July as the state witnessed unprecedented heavy rains from July 7 to 11.

Seven out of eight records were broken on July 9. The tourist town of Manali recorded 131.3 mm of rain on July 9 breaking the previous record of 105.1 mm on July 9, 1971. Solan, which received 107 mm of rain on July 9 broke the previous record of 105 mm on July 7, 2015.

Rohru in Shimla received 185 mm of rain on July 9 surpassing the record of 170 mm on July 25, 1966, while Una made a new record of 228. 5 mm on July 9. The past record for Una was not available.

Ghamroor in Kangra recorded 166 mm of rain on July 9 against the previous record of 164.8 on July 19, 2021. Similarly, Pachhad in Sirmaur received 220 mm of rain on July 10 breaking the past record of 189.2 mm on July 26, 1973.

Hamirpur and Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti also set new records of 169.5 mm and 83 mm rains on July 9 surpassing the previous records of 146 (Hamirpur) on July 30, 1996 and 78 (Keylong) on July 28, 1951, as per the Met office.

Rain-related incidents like flash floods, cloud bursts and landslides and road accidents have so far claimed 194 lives in the state while 34 are missing since the onset of the monsoon on June 24 till August 1, according to the state emergency operation centre.

The state has suffered losses to the tune of Rs 5722 crores and 728 houses have been completely damaged while 7234 houses suffered partial damages as per the centre. About 320 roads are still closed to vehicular traffic.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)