JOIN USThe flood situation in the eastern Uttar Pradesh districts worsened following continuous discharge of water into the rivers from the barrages that led to inundation of more areas even as the Army was put on alert.
“The rising rivers threatened to engulf more districts in the state,” officials here said.
The toll in flood related incidents rose to 34 with reports of four more deaths in different parts of the state in the past 24-hours as several highways and link roads remained submerged bringing vehicular traffic to a halt, reports said.
Gonda, Baharaich, Balrampur and Shravasti districts remained cut off from rest of the state. An estimated 30 lakh people in around 800 villages in a dozen districts in the state are affected by the floods, officials said here on Monday.
Flood waters had entered Balrampur town inundating a large number of low-lying localities.
“The situation in Bahaiarich is alarming. Rescue teams were finding it difficult to reach the marooned people,” the officials said.
According to reports, thousands of people in Shravasti districts are trapped on the roofs of their houses since Saturday and rescue workers are not able to reach them. Schools and colleges have been closed.
At many places, people took shelter in school and college buildings.
Though the state government claimed that it was distributing relief material among the affected people, many said they had been starving for the past two days. Thousands of flood-affected people blocked roads in Shravasti district in protest against lack of relief material and shouted anti-government slogans.
“Choppers were used to drop food packets among the affected people,” officials said.
More threats
Meanwhile, the rising Ghaghra and Gorra rivers posed a grave threat to Gorakhpur and Basti districts, the officials said. Flood threat also loomed large over Sant Kabir Nagar and Ballia districts, they added.
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 well above the danger marks at several places, sources said.
Officials said that there might be some respite after Wednesday as rains have stopped in neighbouring Uttarakhand.