Rains continued to lash northern parts of the country, including Uttar Pradesh, where major rivers were in spate. In UP, the south-west monsoon continued to remain active as precipitation occurred in several parts of the state, where major rivers, including Ganga, were flowing at or above the danger mark at many places. The Met department has forecast rain and thundershowers at many places over the state on Friday.
At least 468 people marooned in the villages of Siddharthnagar district in Uttar Pradesh, along the Indo-Nepal border, had been rescued by NDRF teams which were rushed overnight to rescue the people affected by floods. Officials said the villages of the border town were hit by unprecedented flash floods and it submerged several villages on the intervening night of July 26-27 and an NDRF team was rushed from the nearest location at Varanasi on Tuesday night. “The operation has ended now and the affected people have been brought to safer places,” National Disaster Response Force chief O P Singh told PTI.
A senior official said flash floods were caused due to release of large amount of water from Nepal leading to water levels rising dangerously in Banganga river upto 6-7 feet which submerged several villages under Shoratgarh tehsil of the said district. The flood waters entered houses in the areas of Jagdiva, Ghannore, Jharwa, Arri, Kepsewa, Dablawa, Charigawa, Dhanora and locals were marooned in no time, they said. Forty-four flood rescue teams of the NDRF have been pre-positioned in various flood prone areas of the country like Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand and West Bengal to assist state administrations in rescue and relief work.
An NDRF control room is closely monitoring the situation of floods 24×7, they said
Four women were killed in lightning strike in Bihar on Thursday. Floods that occurred mainly due to heavy rains in Nepal’s catchment area continued to affect the life of over 17 lakh people in 10 districts of Bihar and have so far claimed 22 lives. Four women were killed and two others received burn injuries after being struck by lightning in East Champaran district, a police officer said.
Rains continued to lash northern parts of the country, including New Delhi, where 14.1 mm rainfall was recorded between 8.30 AM and 5.30 PM. The maximum temperature in Delhi was recorded at 33.5 degrees Celsius, while the minimum temperature settled at 26 degrees Celsius, both a notch below normal for this time of the year.
Humidity levels, however, shot up in the national capital amid continuous downpour throughout the day that led to water logging in several areas triggering traffic snarls at various
intersections and busy roundabouts in the city.
In Punjab and Haryana, the maximum temperature hovered at below normal levels in most parts of the region, while sporadic rainfall was reported from some parts. Chandigarh recorded 30.6 degrees Celsius, two notches below normal. Hisar drenched in 26.7 mm of rainfall, while Karnal received 2 mm of rainfall, even as Amritsar logged 1.8 mm of rainfall.
In Rajasthan, heavy to very heavy rainfall occurred in Udaipur and Ajmer divisions where Kotri and Hurda towns in Bhilwara recorded 150 mm rains and Arnod in Pratapgarh received 130 mm rains (both in 24 hours).
Heavy rainfall also occurred at isolated places in Bikaner and light to moderate in other divisions of the state, according to Met department Jaipur, Pilani, Ajmer, Dabok, Kota and Jodhpur also recorded 29.8, 14.2, 4.9, 3, 1.8 and 1.1 (all in mm) rains respectively till evening since this morning.
In West Bengal, cloudy conditions prevailed with one or two spells of rain in isolated parts of the state as the Meteorological department forecast similar conditions in the
next two days. The coastal resort town of Digha experienced the highest rainfall of 49.1 mm since last morning. Digha was also the warmest place in the state at 35.5
degree Celsius, while Kolkata followed closely at 34.8 degree Celsius, it said.
PTI