With 108 deaths, flood situation in Uttar Pradesh remains grim

A total of 108 people have died in Uttar Pradesh due to floods. On Friday, four more people died due to floods. Experts say flood situation is grim in the state.

Lucknow, Sep 2: 2017 is definitely going to be one of the worst years in the history of floods in India. From Assam, Bihar to Gujarat, floods have created havoc, killing hundreds of people across the country.

While flood situation is stated to have improved in Assam and Bihar, Uttar Pradesh got no respite from the deluge. The death toll in Uttar Pradesh floods rose to 108 with four more deaths reported from various parts of the state on Friday.

The officials maintained that the overall flood situation in Uttar Pradesh is grim. More than 3,000 villages in 24 districts of the state are currently reeling under floods. A total of 28 lakh people of the state have been affected by the floods.

"The death toll in the floods has reached 108 in the state, where 3,101 villages in 24 districts are inundated affecting a population of over 28 lakh," the relief commissioner's office said citing a flood report compiled till Wednesday.

It said that around 3 lakh people have taken shelter in relief camps in the affected districts, mostly in eastern Uttar Pradesh, where there was no let down in flood fury as raging waters of the rivers emanating from Nepal caused havoc in vast swathes of human habitation.

Reports said that army choppers, NDRF and PAC (flood) jawans continued relief and rescue operations round the clock in the severely hit areas of the flood affected districts of the state.

Release of water in the rivers emanating from Nepal and incessant rains impeded rescue work and evacuation of people to safer areas, they said.

A total of 28 companies of NDRF, 30 companies of PAC (flood) along with two choppers of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and several columns of the army personnel were working round the clock to save lives and properties in the affected areas.

A Central Water Commission report said that the Sharda river was flowing above the red mark at Palia Kalan and near the danger mark at Shardanagar while Ghaghra was flowing above the red mark at Turtipar (Ballia). River Rapti was also flowing well above the red mark at Birdghat (Gorakhpur), it said.

Recently, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath conducted an aerial survey of flood-hit areas of the state. However, thousands of affected people are unhappy with the kind of relief measures organised by the government agencies.

Several flood-hit people expressed anger at the tardy state of affairs as many have no access to food and drinking waters in various parts of the state. The state government assured that all possible steps will be taken to provide relief funds to the people.

OneIndia News