Flood situation in UP remains grim: 48 deaths so far

Lucknow: The flood situation in Uttar Pradesh has turned grim with the Army, para-military and state police force working round the clock in the rescue and relief work though 48 people have lost their lives so far. Official sources here have admitted that 48 people have lost their lives during the past fortnight, while the floods have affected 1.5 million people of the state in 22 districts.

The release of water from the dams in Nepal have flooded the rivers like Ghagra, Rapti and others leading to floods in UP and Bihar. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was undertaking aerial view of the flood affected areas regularly and meeting the officials of the districts to monitor the relief and rescue operations. In UP, the floods have affected over 3,000 villages with 1,300 villages totally submerged in the waters while over 50,000 people were shifted to safer places.

Sources said 11 companies of NDRF, 17 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 the life and properties in the affected areas. A report from Sidharnath Nagar district said that Rapti, Burhi Rapti, Kuraha and Ghogi rivers were creating havoc in the districts where six people have died in the floods so far. The floods have submerged several areas of Bansi, Doomariaganj, Etwa, Sohratgarh and Navgarh tehsils where over 500 villages have flood impact. Another report from Gonda said that 525 villages were affected in the floods of Colonelganj and Tarabganj tehsils where Ghagra have created havoc.

Officials said 815 government schools in four blocks have been washed away in the flood waters. Meanwhile, flood control officials here today said that the river Ghagra is flowing 70 cms above the danger level at Elgin in Gonda while the same river in Ayodhya is above the red mark by 97 cms and in Turtipar in Ballia it is 80 cms above the danger level. River Rapti is flowing above the danger level by 1.87 meters at Birdghat and by 1.50 meters at Ringauli in Gorakhpur district,while at Bansi in Sidharthnagar district it was 64 cms above the danger level. (UNI)