Shimla, Aug. 28 -- Amid heavy rain in Himachal Pradesh, Kullu district was cut off with the Chandigarh-Manali national highway damaged and closed for traffic from Pandoh to Aut due to landslides in Mandi district and the raging Beas river wreaking havoc for the past three days, officials said on Wednesday. However, it was reopened in the evening and the process of sending stranded vehicles on this stretch of the highway towards their safe destinations was started. Communication services in Chamba district have also been hit since Tuesday following incessant rainfall, they said. The state has since June 20 witnessed 85 landslides, 90 flashfloods and 42 cloudbursts. Heavy rain triggered landslides and flash floods, damaging National Highway 21 between Mandi and Kullu at Pandoh. The alternative Mandi-Kullu link via Kataula is also blocked, police said. The Beas river has damaged several stretches of the highway and restoration could take two more days. On Tuesday night, the Kullu district authorities ordered all fuel station operators to keep petrol and diesel reserves for emergency use and not to engage in hoarding. Pumps with a capacity of over 25,000 litres have been ordered to keep at least 5,000 litres of diesel and 3,000 litres of petrol in reserve. Light motor vehicles are being given a maximum of 20 litres of fuel at a time, while heavy vehicles are being allowed up to 100 litres of diesel. Heavy rains, landslides, flash floods and cloudbursts on Tuesday wreaked havoc in parts of Himachal and overflowing Beas River left a trail of destruction in Manali while mobile connectivity was snapped in the majority of Chamba district and Manali, reports reaching here said. A total of 584 roads across the state are closed. According to the Himachal Pradesh state disaster management authority (SDMA), as of Wednesday evening, 582 roads, including two national highways, remained blocked, 1,155 electricity distribution transformers (DTRs) were disrupted, and 346 water supply schemes were out of service. Reports from Chamba and Lahaul and Spiti districts have not been received, the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) said. While the cumulative toll since June 20 has climbed to 310 deaths of which 158 were rain-related fatalities including landslides, flash floods, and house collapses and 152 people died in road accidents. The SDMA's SEOC report noted that restoration efforts were hampered by persistent heavy rainfall in several districts, with Kullu, Mandi, Kangra, and Shimla among the worst hit. Kullu district alone reported 166 road blockages, including closures on NH-03 and NH-305, as well as widespread damage to local routes. With the Chandigarh-Manali highway blocked, hundreds of cargo vehicles are stranded in Manali. Local residents are arranging food for drivers by setting up community kitchens (langars). Driver Gurvinder Singh said, "I have come from Amritsar and am going to Manali. It has been four days since I arrived. The condition of the road is bad. It will take 2-3 days to be repaired." He said vegetables and other perishable goods were rotting because of the delay. While Mandi and Kullu saw a brief respite with clear skies on Wednesday, authorities remained on high alert due to rising water levels and landslide-prone roads. Restoration work is underway, and the authorities are prioritising efforts to reopen the routes. Bharmour MLA Dr Janak Raj, while speaking to media on Wednesday said thousands of pilgrims, who have travelled from across India, are currently stuck along the route to the sacred Manimahesh Lake. While authorities have so far maintained that all are safe, no direct contact has been possible with those on the ground due to the complete breakdown of communication. "For the last 40 hours, it has been raining continuously. Mobile networks are totally down; we cannot communicate with local residents or the administration. The Manimahesh Yatra is at its peak, and there are thousands of devotees here," Janak Raj said. He said many are stranded in Hadsar, the main starting point for the trek, as well as along routes from Chamba, Jammu's Doda-Kishtwar region, and the Pathankot corridor. "I have requested the government to deploy, apart from NDRF and SDRF teams, the Indian Army for night flying operations and helicopter evacuation." Janak Raj also noted that the official registration system for the pilgrimage had not been fully implemented, making it difficult to verify exact numbers. The IMD has issued a yellow alert for heavy rains at isolated areas in three to six districts of the state till Sunday. Chief secretary Prabodh Saxena presided over a high-level meeting to assess the current situation in the flood-affected areas of the state and the ongoing relief and rehabilitation works with concerned administrative secretaries, DCs and officers of the stakeholder departments....