2 Gujarat districts declared disaster-affected

Heavy rain caused widespread damage in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday, ravaging houses and washing away vehicles, while two districts in Gujarat were declared ‘disaster-affected’ areas.

In the national capital, it was a humid day under mainly clear skies with the maximum temperature settling at 34.6 degrees Celsius, a notch above the season’s average.

The minimum temperature was recorded at 27.3 degrees Celsius while the humidity level oscillated between 83% and 58%.

In Himachal Pradesh, Dehra Gopipur was the wettest place with 123 mm rain.

Several vehicles were washed away in heavy downpour at Gazan village, 12 km from Manali. Rain damaged over 70 houses and huts, and 29 cowsheds across the state while the Hatkoti-Theog National Highway remained blocked, Deputy Commissioner Rohan Chand Thakur said.

The loss to public property was pegged at Rs 300 crore.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi visited Lakhimpur, the worst-affected district in flood-ravaged Assam.
He crossed Ranganadi river in a small boat and reached Amtola. The overflowing river had broken an embankment and caused large-scale destruction of human habitation and farmlands here.

In Gujarat, the state revenue department declared Banaskantha and Patan districts as ‘disaster-affected areas’ under provisions of the Gujarat State Disaster Management Act of 2003.

As many as 218 people died in various rain-related incidents across the state this monsoon season.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has been camping in the flood-affected areas since five days to monitor the relief operations.

In Rajasthan, light to moderate rainfall occurred at a few places in Kota and Udaipur divisions and at isolated places in Jodhpur and Bharatpur divisions. Sriganganagar was the hottest place in the state at 37.6 degrees Celsius.

In West Bengal, only Jalpaiguri (15.8mm) recorded substantial rainfall.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Centre of not helping the state government cope with the damage caused by floods.

A senior official at the state agricultural department said that around 36,110 out of the 1,24,144 hectares of land where vegetables were harvested, was under water.

In Uttarakhand, heavy rain lashed Dehradun and adjoining areas while the Met department issued a heavy rain alert for Kumaon and Garhwal regions.

After being battered by heavy rains for several days, most parts of Odisha experienced a comparatively dry day.