Rain adds to UP flood woes; 50 killed

The flood situation in Uttar Pradesh remained grim on Tuesday as 50 people were killed and thousands displaced. Thousands of hectares of farmland in the terai region (foothills of Himalayas) and districts adjoining Nepal have been inundated. The worst affected districts are Balrampur, Sravasti, Gonda, Lakhimpur Kheri, Barabanki, Faizabad, Azamgarh, Bahraich and Muzaffarnagar.

The state government has deployed battalions of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Border Security Force (BSF) for relief and rescue operations. Helicopters and motorboats have also been pressed into service.

The government has set up a 24-hour monitoring control room in the office of Uttar Pradesh relief commissioner, which would be functional till September 30.

The flood situation in Uttar Pradesh has aggravated following heavy rainfall and cloudburst in Uttarakhand and Nepal, the regions which feed most of the rivers meandering through the state.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan has directed the principal secretary of revenue to collate information on relief and rescue operations from the respective district magistrates on a daily basis. He has asked officials to provide lunch packets to victims and warned against slackness in relief and rescue work.

Most rivers were flowing above or near danger mark in UP with several showing a rise. According to central water commission report, Ghargra river  in Ayodhya, Sharda in Paliakalan (Kheri), Turtipar (Ballia) and Elginbridge (Barabanki) was flowing above danger mark on Tuesday. Budhi Rapti was flowing above the danger mark in Kakarhi (Siddharth Nagar). Other major rivers, including Ganga, Ram Ganga, Yamuna, Betwa, Ken, Gomti, Sai, Rapti, Kunhara, Rohin, Kwano and Gandak are rising at several places along their course.