JOIN USThe rain that began pounding Varanasi, Chandauli, Mirzapur, Jaunpur and other districts on Saturday inundated many towns and scores of villages, reports here said.
The incidents of wall and house collapse were reported from Jaunpur, Varanasi and Gorakhpur districts. In Jaunpur district alone, 17 people were killed in rain-related incidents.
Movement of trains in the busy Howrah-Delhi section of the Northern Railway was affected after heavy rains accompanied by strong winds disrupted signals near Moghalsarai station.
Several long-distance trains were stranded at the station for hours adding to the discomfiture of passengers. Agitated commuters created ruckus at the station in protest against the delay in the departure of trains. “It took about 18 hours to fix the signalling system,” railway officials said at Moghalsarai.
In Varanasi, train services were badly hit after rain waters submerged the tracks at many places. At least 50 villages in Chandauli district have been completely marooned following incessant rain.
Thousands of people have been shifted to safer places.
State Met director J P Gupta said rains would continue in the eastern region for the next 24 hours.
21 lakh hit in Odisha
Odisha is experiencing another round of floods which have affected more than 21 lakh people in 10 districts, mostly in coastal, northern and western parts of the state.
The floods in Bramhani, Baitarani and Kharasrota rivers have claimed 17 lives by Sunday evening. As many as 114 villages remained marooned by the flood waters. Local administrations have already evacuated 1.31 lakh people from the flood-hit areas. They are housed in 258 relief camps. Apart from boats three helicopters are currently engaged in rescue and relief operations. Two more choppers will be put into service soon as the state government is expecting the flood situation to remain grim at least for the next couple of days.
“We are trying our level best to handle the situation. Providing relief to the people will not be a problem,” revenue and disaster management minister Surya Narayan Patra said on Sunday after a review meeting.