IMPHAL, Aug 3 - Heavy rain at isolated places last night triggered landslides in Manipur today, blocking a portion of the Imphal-Jiribam highway and affecting movement of vehicles.
A landslide measuring around 100 foot blocked a portion of the National Highway-37 near the Barak bridge under the Nungba PS in the Imphal-Jiribam sector, about 160 km west of Imphal, on Saturday morning, police sources said. The landslide occurred last night.
There are also reports of landslides near Sibilong along the National Highway-37, which is the second lifeline of the State after the National Highway-2 (Imphal-Dimapur highway).
Two parked trucks also slipped off the road around 4 am. One driver was injured and rescued to a healthcare centre at Jiribam.
The clearing of the highway has been under way since then. Normal traffic will be allowed to resume once the clearance work is completed, a senior police official who is monitoring the situation said.
Around 400 goods-laden trucks are stranded on either side of the highway due to the landslide. But light vehicles have started plying along the route, he said. Tamenglong district received 68.4 mm of rainfall on Saturday, while Noney got around 64.8 mm, as per the daily weather data of the Directorate of Environment.
Officials of the National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, which has been maintaining the NH-37 since March 2017, could not be reached due to poor mobile phone connectivity.
