Water starts receding in Punjab and Haryana, 3 deaths reported

Chandigarh, Aug 18 : Heavy rain claimed three more lives taking the toll to 19 in the region on Monday as water began receding in rivers passing through Punjab and Haryana giving respite to over 150 villages.

The water in the swollen Sutlej, Yamuna, Beas and Ravi rivers has started receding and they are now flowing at their normal levels, irrigation.

A man from Khanna village died in Ferozepur and a couple was killed in a roof collapse in Kaithal town of Haryana.

The current spell of rains had claimed 16 lives, including 12 in Punjab.

Army columns and NGOs are engaged in evacuation work at a brisk rate, officials said adding that the 150 ft breach in the banks of Sutlej in Lohian in Jalandhar district is being plugged.

The Ravi river is also flowing below the danger level in Gurdaspur district and around a dozen villages are still cut off from the district headquarters.

About two kilometres of road between Nangal and Nurpur Bedi on the outskirts of Punjab have been washed away due to heavy rains, sources said.

Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal visited the flood-hit areas and reviewed the rescue and relief operations.

In Moga the river Sutlej has started receding and the water level has gone down by a foot, irrigation department sources said.

Around 16 village were submerged by flood water in Moga and Army personnel are engaged in plugging the breaches in the Sutlej.

The 100-ft breach in Sutlej in Bandala village on the banks of river has been plugged by the army.

The situation in 36 villages of Hoshiarpur and 12 villages in Sulatnapur Lodhi in Kapurthala district is returning to normal, irrigation department officials said in Chandigarh.

Meanwhile, around 70 villages along the Indo-Pak border in Ferozepur district remained flood-hit due to flash floods in Sutlej river.

Meanwhile residents of atleast 50 villages falling in the Khadar tract of Sonepat face flood threat from surging water of Yamuna river.

In Punjab and Haryana over 95000 acres of crops were submerged by flood water, officials said.

A report from Sonepat in Haryana said standing crops over thousands of acres of land along the Gohana-Sonepat road and the Kharkhauda-Delhi road were submerged by rain water.

ANI