Flood toll 58 in UP, rain havoc in NE continues

New Delhi, July 31 (UNI) The flood toll rose to 58 in Uttar Pradesh and the Northeast continued to face rain havoc with grim situation prevailing in Meghalaya and Asom.

Seventeen people across UP had died due to flood, taking the death toll to 58, in the last 24 hours.

Almost 700 villages have been inundated with flood water at Barabanki, Gonda, Deoria, Lakhimpur Kheri, Basti, Siddharthnagar and Sant Kabirnagar. Rapti, Sharda, Ghaghra and Kuano rivers were flowing above the danger mark at several places, however, the Ganga, Yammuna, Ramganga, Betawa, Sharda, Ghaghra, Gomti and Gadak rivers were below the red mark though water level was increasing at fast pace.

Traffic had been stranded between Gorakhpur and Nepal due to water-logging on the Nautnava-Gorakhpur National Highway in Maharajganj. The Railway bridge at Ghaghra ghat of Barabanki had posed threat due to breach in the dam.

Relief work was on at the flood affected villages in the state with the help of PAC and locals, official sources said.

Three more bodies were recovered today in Meghalaya taking the toll to seven in rain-triggered incidents.

As many as 1.20 lakh people in the West Garo Hill district have been affected due to the flash flood, Deputy Commissioner P Sampath Kumar told UNI by phone.

Ten relief camps have been set up to accommodate the affected people.

Several roads in South Garo Hills, bordering the international Indo-Bangla border remain blocked due to landslides and flooding.

The state Public Work Department has estimated the damage to roads and bridges as 3.5 crore.

Chief Minister D D Lapang will visit the flood-affected areas tomorrow to take stock of the situation.

The flood situation remained grim in Asom. Over 44 lakh people have been affected and 4,000 villages submerged in the second wave of flood. As many as 15 people have drowned in the state so far.

As many as 24 districts of the state have been affected.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said the Deputy Commissioners had been instructed to ensure relief to all the affected people.

''We have adequate stock of basic amenities and rescue and relief operations has been accorded top priority,'' Mr Gogoi said. The Army have been pressed into rescue and relief operations.

It is on a standby for air-dropping essentials if the need arose.

As many as 52,070 people were sheltered in 385 relief camps and 264 temporary shelters operated, with 2,09,433 inmates.

There have been 52 breaches of embankments and 211 PWD roads damaged so far, besides a 1.5 km national highway breach at three-four places near Bordoloni in Dhemaji district.

Altogether 66 various types of bridges have been damaged.

In Goalpara district, 1.88 lakh people have been affected and 167 villages submerged. The Deputy Commissioner confirmed the death of one person in the district, adding another three deaths were reported but the bodies were yet to be found.

Water showed receding signs at various places, though the rivers flowed above the danger level across the state.

The Brahmaputra continued to flow above the red mark in Guwahati,Dibrugarh, Goalpara, Tezpur and Dhubri, besides in several other places in the 850-km course throughout the state.

The twin states of Punjab and Haryana in North India witnessed hot and humid weather conditions as monsoon rain eluded most parts of this region in the past 24 hours.

Rains lashed isolated places in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh overnight and sultry weather persisted in the plains.

Light to moderate rain lashed parts of Himachal Pradesh, including mid and lower hills. Chandigarh and its adjoining areas were lashed by rains and the city recorded 24.8 mm till 0830 hrs.

The temperature in Kolkata and adjoining areas soared with no rainfall recorded in the past 24 hours.

A few places in Orissa, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, east Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Gujarat, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, Telangana, north interior Karnataka, Lakshadweep and at isolated places in west Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are likely to witness rains and thundershowers.

UNI