Toll reaches 218 in UP, heavy rains kill 4 in Bihar

New Delhi, Aug 20 (UNI) With eight more deaths, the toll rose to 218 in flood-related incidents in Uttar Pradesh while four members of a family, including three children, died and two others were injured when a wall of their house collapsed due to heavy downpour at Konibar village in Bihar.

With prominent rivers such as Ganga, Ram Ganga, Ghaghra, Sharda and Behgul swelling up beyond the danger mark, the flood fury continues in UP.

Over 2,500 villages of the flood-hit Basti, Siddharthnagar, Gonda, Shravasti, Faizabad, Pilibhit, Bareilly, Badaun and Jyotiba Phulenagar districts were innundated. Besides, lakhs of hectares of land had been affected due to flood.

The situation is worsening with the heavy rainfall in the last one week in Gorakhpur division. The Gorakhpur-Sonauli national highway remained affected for the sixth consecutive day.

Meanwhile, a cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh washed away 90 bighas land, seven cowsheds and three goats.

Monsoon rain lashed many areas in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh since last night, providing respite from hot weather conditions in the region.

Many areas in Himachal Pradesh, including Kangra, Kullu, Mandi, Chamba and Shimla districts, experienced moderate rain.

The Met Office said moderate to rather heavy rain or thundershowers will occur at many places in Himachal Pradesh and few places in Haryana and Punjab during the next 24 hours.

The southwest monsoon has been active in Orissa,Jharkhand,Konkan and Goa and subdued over Rajasthan, west Madhya Pradesh, Saurashtra and Kutch, Marathwada and south interior Karnataka.

Extremely heavy rains have occurred at many places in Orissa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and at most places in Chattisgarh.

Rain or thundershowers have occurred at most places in Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, west Uttar Pradesh, Konkan and Goa, Rayalseema, coastal Karnataka and at many places in Haryana, Punjab, east Madhya Pradesh, and at a few places in Assam and Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manaipur, Mizoram and Tripura, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, east Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Gujrat region, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, Telangana, north interior Karnataka, Kerala and Lakshadweep and at isolated places in Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, east Rajasthan, west Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Saurashtra and Kutch, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and south interior Karnataka.

Heavy to very rains are likely to occur at many places in east Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, coastal Karnataka and at many places in Jharkhand, Vidarbha, Konkan and Goa and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Rain or thundershowers are likely to occur at many places in Orissa, and at a few places in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Gangetic West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, east Rajasthan, West Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat region, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, Telgangana, Rayalaseema, interior Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep and at isolated places in west Rajasthan, Saurashtra and Kutch, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

After a cool weather,brought about by light rains of yesterday, Delhi was back to warm and humid conditions with the mercury rising to 35.4 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature was recorded at 25.7 degrees C.

The Met office has forecast a partly cloudy sky in the capital during the next 24 hours with the likelihood of thundry development in some areas.

UNI