Fifteen army houses were razed to ground and over a dozen houses, mostly of ex-servicemen were badly damaged as a massive landslide triggered by incessant rains, hit Kajlot Panchayat, 5 km from Dharamshala in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.
The gushing rain water swept the army houses and the land in surrounding areas which was sunk by 200 feet while over a dozen private houses, mostly of Gorkha ex-servicemen were badly damaged. However, there was no loss of life, atleast 20 families were rendered shelter-less and are provided temporary shelter in the army complex.
The army houses were vacated as some of the building developed cracks due to rains. The land started sinking and the Gorkhas settled in the adjoining area woke up when they heard the shrilling voices of gushing waters and ran towards safer places.
Some of the houses were completely destroyed, the household and other articles could not be salvaged while the goods from remaining houses were saved with the help of army men in the afternoon.
Naraian, head of Gorkha community said that his dogs suddenly started barking at mid night and when he came out, he saw the hillside sliding down. “I immediately raised alarm and asked all the residents to vacate their houses and as a result, there was no human causality”, he added.
The Gram Panchayat president, Suresh Kumar said that the army building collapsed and washed away in rain waters while some of our houses were damaged. “We brought the affected people to army campus and all of them have been provided shelter and relief by army and district administration”, he added.
Meanwhile, several areas of Himchal Pradesh were lashed by heavy rains and Dharamshala, which was wettest in the region with 111 mm rain, received more than 400 mm rain in past four days.
