Flood crisis worsens in Punjab, Haryana

A 15 feet fresh breach occurred in Hansi Butana canal, some 4 km from Kaithal town in Haryana, inundating around 40 villages, officials said.

To further compound the problem, two breaches of about 50 to 60 feet have been created due to gushing waters in Ghaggar at Rasoli and Naiwala villages in Sangrur district of Punjab, flooding some other 50 villages, they added.

Already, over 200 villages in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Sangrur, Patiala and Mohali districts in the two states are flood-affected.

Reports from the worst flood-hit areas of Kurukshetra in Haryana and Ambala and Ludhiana in Punjab said that water-levels have been receding at a snail pace as many places still remained submerged under around 10 feet of flood waters.

While rail traffic was restored on the Ambala-Chandigarh railway line, Army personnel tried hard to restore normal road traffic conditions on the Ambala-Hisar highway, which remained disrupted due to a 30 feet breach on the highway, officials said.

“Everything is under control... All train services have been restored in the region... Few trains are cancelled due to late running of certain other trains,” Ambala’s Railway Commercial Manager G M Singh said.

But to make matters more uncertain, the Met department has predicted further rainfall at isolated places in parts of Punjab and Haryana during the next few hours.

Reports from Sonepat said that the Yamuna is flowing in its full furry and people living close to the banks of the river have been advised to shift to safer places.

The Army, district administration, social organisations and villagers are working hard to plug existing breaches in the Satluj-Yamuna Link in the Kurukshetra district, three in the Tangri river in Ambala district and two in the Ghaggar river in Sangrur district.