JOIN USThe floods claimed six more lives on Saturday in Assam and West Bengal, though the overall situation improved with the water level receding at several places.
There was, however, no let up in the eastern region of Uttar Pradesh as raging waters of the rivers emanating from Nepal caused havoc in vast swathes of human habitation.
The third wave of floods in Assam has claimed 63 lives so far. As many as 22 lakh people are bearing the brunt of flooding in 16 districts.
According to a report by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, one person each died in Dhubri, Morigaon and Golaghat, taking the number of deaths in this year’s flood-related incidents to 147.
Till Friday, 26 lakh people were suffering in 20 districts of Assam.
In Morigaon, which has been hit the hardest, 5.29 lakh people have been marooned. As many as 5.07 lakh people have been affected in Barpeta.
At present, 1,791 villages and 1.18 lakh hectares of crop area are inundated.
The Kaziranga National Park, Pobitora and Lawkhua wildlife sanctuaries are also under flood waters.
The death toll since July 22 has risen to 55 in West Bengal, with three more deaths on Saturday.
The overall flood situation has, however, abated as there has been no major rainfall over the past two days, officials said.
Over 52 lakh people have been hit by the floods in six north Bengal districts of Coochbehar, South Dinajpur, North Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Malda.
The officials said the swirling waters have destroyed over 75,000 houses and damaged over 2.15 lakh houses.
A report from Malda said the river Mahananda, which has flooded the Gajol block, is rising. Water levels in a river at Harirampur of South Dinajpur district is also increasing.
The Eastern Railways (ER) is running trains up to Malda from Kolkata. Services beyond Malda remained suspended owing to the inundation of railway tracks in north Bengal, Bihar and Assam.
Train services in north Bengal and Assam from Howrah and Sealdah stations remained suspended for the seventh consecutive day on Saturday, an ER spokesman said.
Gorakhpur badly hit
Large parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh continued to be ravaged by the floods, which has so far claimed 42 lives and affected around 15 lakh people in over 2,000 villages across 23 districts, reports DHNS.
Gorakhpur and its adjoining districts - Maharajganj and Kushinagar -were the worst hit and the army has been called in to assist the civil administration to carry out relief and rescue operations.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath conducted an aerial survey of the flood-affected regions on Saturday and also distributed relief materials to the affected people.