Swollen rivers wreak havoc in Uttar Pradesh, Varanasi worst affected

Swollen rivers flooded several towns and inundated large tracts of lands in different parts of Uttar Pradesh forcing thousands of people to leave their villages and take shelter elsewhere.

Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of prime minister Narendra Modi, was one of the worst affected towns in the state with waters from the rising Ganga entering residential localities.

According to the official sources here, Modi spoke to Varanasi district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma on Wednesday and inquired about the situation in the district and relief works being carried out by the administration.

Reports said that several localities in the city were submerged as Ganga flowed over the danger mark. ''People are facing difficulties in cremating the dead bodies as the cremation ghats were completely submerged under the water,'' said a resident of the town.

The situation in Prayagraj was no better as there also the waters of the rising Ganga have entered the residential localities and several low lying areas were submerged in water.

According to the reports, floodwaters from several other rivers, including Yamuna, Betwa and others, have inundated many villages in Banda, Farrukhabad, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Auraiya and Etawah and others.

A state government official here said that relief operations were being undertaken on a war footing in the flood-affected region. Boats have been pressed into service to ferry the people to safer places.

The weather office has predicted more rains in the next 48-hours.