Uttar Pradesh flood toll reaches 50

Flood fury continued in the eastern and central region of Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday with more districts being engulfed by the rising rivers even as the toll in flood-related incidents reached 50.

According to official sources here, there were reports of breaches in the embankments in some districts as a result of which the flood waters had entered the villages. In Deoria district, the swollen Ghaghra river breached its embankment at Pidara.

The Jarwal area in Gonda district has also been badly affected and thousands of people have been forced to leave their villages and shift to safer places. Among them are people in the over 200 villages in Barabanki district. Ghagghra was flowing 140 cm above the danger mark.

Minister for Irrigation Shivpal Singh Yadav made an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas and directed the officials to take all possible measures to provide relief to the people.

Over a dozen districts, mostly in the eastern and central region of the state, have been facing the brunt of the flood fury. Almost all the major rivers, including the Ganga, Rapti, Saryu, Ghaghra, Ramganga and many other smaller rivers have been rising at different places.

The toll in the flood-related incidents rose to 50 with reports of more deaths in Barabanki, Gonda and Bahraich districts. Over two dozen people were said to be missing and efforts were on to trace them, sources said.

The districts of Gonda, Bahraich, Balrampur and Shravasti remained cut off from rest of the state. An estimated 30 lakh people in around 800 villages in a dozen districts in the state are affected by the floods, officials said.

There were also reports of protests at some places by the flood-affected people over failure of the administration to provide them relief material.

Officials said that there might be some respite after Wednesday as rain has stopped in the neighbouring Uttarakhand state which might result in decline in the levels of the rivers here.