Dehradun, July 12 -- A few hours of overnight torrential monsoon rains left a trail of destruction of public and private property with loss of life mounting as many still missing on the ninth day of the calamity, considered one of the worst in Himachal Pradesh's Janjehli Valley, known globally for nature beauty.

"All is lost," remarked BJP leader and former Chief Minister Jairam Thakur, who said in his political career spanning over 28 years, he has never seen such mammoth devastation anywhere in the state.

He said the entire road network, water supply schemes, electricity supply lines and mobile phone network in his Seraj Assembly constituency have been completely wiped out by the disaster. Multiple back-to-back cloudbursts in the inte...