Flood situation in Bihar, Orissa grim

New Delhi, Aug 14 (UNI) The overall flood situation deteriorated further in Bihar where toll touched 270 following incessant rain and release of water from the Chandan dam while fresh flood wrought havoc in Bhubaneshwar disrupting communications and affecting more than two lakh people in 234 villages spread over 13 blocks in four districts.

Bhadrak and Jajpur were the worst affected as more than 1.5 lakh people were affected in these two districts alone during the last two days followed by Bolangir and Mayurbhanja.

Movement of trains in Bihar was cancelled on Bhagalpur-Banka- Mandar hill section under Malda division of Eastern Railway and dwindling number of attendance forced various educational institutions to declare a holiday.

The met department has forecast likeliness of heavy to very heavy rains at most places in the state.

In the north, the Srinagar-Leh national highway remained closed for the second consecutive day today. Traffic on the highway was suspended yesterday after a bridge was washed away by floods. Life, however, returned to normal in Himachal Pradesh, where heavy rains in the past four days claimed 29 lives and left a trail of destruction. Major parts of Mandi town in Himachal Pradesh were reeling under water famine in the wake of breakdown of Maigal-Mandi gravity pipeline following incessant rain over the past three days.

Moderate rain lashed Shimla and tourist resorts of Wildflower Hall, Kufri, Naldehra and Narkanda last night.

The national capital was cooled down by the westerlies providing respite from hot and humid conditions. Weatherman has forecast rain in Delhi and other plains of North west India in the next two to three days under the influence of a fresh low pressure area over Northwest Bay of Bengal.

The Southwest Monsoon has been vigorous in Gangetic West Bengal, and active in Assam, Meghalaya, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, and east Uttar Pradesh.

Towards the west, the monsoon has subdued considerably in Rajasthan but light rains continue in some parts of the state.

Rain or thundershowers are likely to occur at many places in west Uttar Pradesh, east Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Vidarbha.

In the Deccan region, rain or thundershowers are likely to occur at a few places in Tamil Nadu, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar islands and also in Karnataka, which has incurred a loss of over Rs 5400 crore due to incessant rains that lashed for over a week.

Karnataka Revenue Minister Jagadish Shettar told mediapersons today that the state government had released Rs 50 crore to take up relief measures in the flood affected areas. The monsoon, however, has weakened over the area.

The met department has forecast rain or thundershowers at a few places in Orissa, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Marathwada, and at isolated places in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, east Rajasthan, Vidarbha, Saurashtra, Kutch, Tamil Nadu, south interior Karnataka and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

UNI