Situation grim in Assam, Bihar as toll mounts to 214

The situation remained grim in Assam and Bihar with the deluge claiming 214 lives this monsoon season.

The toll in Assam floods touched 81 on Saturday with the death of one more person in Barpeta district, as water re-entered Sonitpur district bordering Arunachal Pradesh, an official report said.

The situation in the other 17 flood-affected districts remained unchanged, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said. A total of 1,716 villages in 56 revenue circles of the state are inundated.

The number of people affected by the floods in Bihar exceeded 85 lakh even as no fresh casualty has been reported since Friday evening, state disaster management department said.

Sitamarhi and Madhubani remain the worst affected districts with 37 and 30 deaths respectively and together accounting for more than 30 lakh of people hit by the calamity, the release said.

According to a release issued by the department, 85.60 lakh people, spread across villages falling under 1,253 Panchayats of 111 blocks in 13 districts, are affected by floods which have so far claimed 127 lives.

Intermittent rains lashed many parts of Jammu and Kashmir for the third consecutive day, disrupting traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway.

An 82-year-old woman was killed and her son seriously injured when a rain-triggered landslide hit their mud house in Doda district, police said. Over two dozen sheep were also killed in the incident.

Officials said intermittent rains during the day left the tracks slippery, forcing the suspension of the Amarnath yatra from Baltal route for the second day on Saturday, while a limited number of pilgrims were allowed along Pahalgam route to avoid any untoward incident. Only 3,124 pilgrims visited the cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas.

The neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh was also lashed by heavy rains, with Paonta Sahib recording the highest, 125 mm, rainfall since Friday evening.

Tourist spots of Shimla, Dharamshala and Manali received rainfall of 99.88 mm, 94 mm and 42.3 mm, respectively.

Jaipur and Kota in Rajasthan received 38.8 mm and 31.4 mm rains till Saturday evening, according to Met department.

Rains also lashed Rajasthan where 13 people have died in related incidents since the last two days. One girl was killed in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh in a roof collapse after a heavy downpour.

The national capital received 5.25 mm rainfall, according to the Safdarjung Observatory, and the maximum and minimum temperatures settled at 32.5 and 25.4 degrees Celsius.

The Met department has forecast cloudy skies for Sunday with light to moderate rain and thundershowers in the city.