Schools shut in India's Himachal state amid alert for extremely heavy rains

NEW DELHI, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- All schools and other educational institutions have been closed in India's northern hilly state of Himachal Pradesh for two days as the weather forecast indicates extremely heavy rains, said an order issued by the state government on Tuesday.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a Red Alert, signalling extremely heavy rains, for Wednesday and an Orange Alert signalling heavy rains for two days.

In view of the prediction of extremely heavy rainfall by the IMD, the movement of staff, school children and trainees may not be safe, therefore needs to be restricted, the order said.

"Hence, all the government, private educational institutions, university, college, schools, and vocational training centers shall remain closed for two days, i.e. Aug. 23 and Aug. 24," said the order issued by the state's disaster management authority.

The state has already faced huge losses, both in terms of human lives and properties, over the past few weeks amid landslides and flash floods triggered by heavy rains.

As per rough estimates, around 80 people have died and properties, including houses, shops, bridges and roads, worth 100 billion Indian rupees (around 1.2 billion U.S. dollars), have been lost in rain-related incidents in the state.