JOIN USAt least 30 people, including women and children, have died and more than 24 have gone missing as the flood situation in Uttar Pradesh, especially in the eastern districts, worsened following incessant rain in the neighbouring Uttarakhand and increased discharge of water from the barrages in the past few days.
According to sources, about four lakh people in the state have been displaced after waters of swollen rivers inundated their homes. The situation was particularly alarming in Lakhmipur-Kheri, Bharaich, Gonda, Shravasti, Balrampur, Faizabad, Barabanki and some other districts in the eastern region.
Almost all the major rivers, including the Ganga, Ghaghra, Rapti, Sharda, Ramganga, Saryu, and some smaller ones, have been rising and many of them were flowing above the danger marks at several places, sources said.
A senior official of the state irrigation department said the barrages in the state are full following heavy rain in Uttarakhand and Nepal. The floods were caused by the release of water from these barrages to the rivers, he added.
Sources said more than 700 villages in the eastern and central region have been marooned after flood waters forced people there to shift to safer places.
Rapti river had broken its 16-year record and was flowing half a metre above the danger mark at Balrampur, they said.
At least 30 people have so far died in flood-related incidents in the past few days in different parts of the state, reports said.
Six people were swept away at Isanagar area in Lakhimpur-Kheri district when the boat in which they were traveling capsized in the Ghaghra river on Saturday, officials said. Four people, including an eight-year-old child, were swept away when their motorboat capsized in Baharaich district.
State Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan said on Sunday that two army choppers had been pressed into service to ferry trapped people to safer places. He told reporters that over 17,000 people have so far been shifted to safer places from the flood-affected districts.
“Seventy-three relief camps and 77 flood posts have been set up in the state. The affected people are being supplied with essential commodities,” Ranjan said.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the Centre would provide all help to the state government in dealing with the situation. He also said that the Centre was in talks with Nepal on the issue of floods.
“Not only Uttar Pradesh, wherever the problem of floods is being faced, full cooperation will be extended. Directives have been issued for sending teams of NDRF (to the affected areas),” Singh told reporters.