UP's flood situation remains grim; heavy rain pounds Odisha

 At least 174 people were killed and 1.6 million people got displaced as the flood situation remained grim in Uttar Pradesh, officials said Tuesday.

Many rivers, including the Ganga, the Yamuna, Ram Ganga, Sharda, Rapti, Ghaghra and Gomti, are in spate. According to the relief commissioner’s office, nearly one million hectare of cultivable land has been destroyed and 299 livestock killed in 15 districts.

Heavy rain in several districts has compounded the problem.

Initially, the state’s western part bore the brunt of floods but now the rivers are causing havoc in eastern part as well, an official said.

The Kuaono river has wrecked havoc in Basti, Sant Kabeernagar and Gorakhpur districts, while the Ganga is in fury in Kanpur, Rae Bareilly, Allahabad, Mirzapur, Varanasi and Ghazipur districts.

The Ram Ganga has flooded Bijnore and parts of Moradabad, while the Yamuna river submerged vast expanses in Etawah, Muzaffarnagar, Jalaun, Auraiyya, Baghpat and Banda.

Other rivers like the Betwa, Gomti, Sharda and Ghaghra have caused widespread destruction in Jhansi, Lalitpur, Jalaun and Hamirpur, Lucknow, Lakhimpur Kheri and Bahraich districts, the official said.

Meanwhile, normal life in several parts of Odisha including capital city Bhubaneswar was also affected Tuesday because of rain under the impact of a low pressure in the Bay of Bengal which has turned into a depression.

The system was lying centred in deep sea about 180 km south-east of Balasore in north Odisha at the time of filing this report.

People in the state are unlikely to have any breather from the downpours at least for the next 48 hours as local weather office forecasts rainfall. “Rain and thundershower will occur at most of the places in Odisha during the next 48 hours. In a few places, the rain is expected to be heavy to very heavy. However, in one or two places the rainfall may be extremely heavy”, the met office said in a statement.

Fishermen along the state coastline have been advised not to venture into the sea as the water will remain extremely rough and choppy. “The sea condition will remain rough to very rough under the impact of the system. Therefore, fishermen have been advised not to enter the sea”, the weather office statement said.

Heavy rain during the last 24 hours has already triggered floods in different rivers, particularly in north Odisha. Flood water was flowing above the danger mark in at least two northern rivers of Subarnarekha and Jalaka.

Two western Odisha towns - Hirakud in Sambalpur district and Titlagarh in Bolangir district - recorded a maximum rainfall of 49 mm respectively on Tuesday., followed by Balasore in north Odisha’s Balasore district with 39 mm.

Capital city Bhubaneswar which is experiencing wet weather since Monday evening has recorded more than 18 mm of rain during the last 24 hours.