UP flood toll reaches 36; 1.5 mn people affected

Standing crops worth over Rs 9 crore on an area of over 130,000 hectares has been damaged

The flood situation in Uttar Pradesh has worsened, with 36 people being killed so far and almost 1.5 million getting affected.

An area of almost 225,000 hectares, including 150,000 hectares of agricultural parcels, is submerged.

Standing crops worth over Rs 9 crore over an area of 130,000 hectares has been damaged, according to official estimates.

Over 2,000 villages across 22 districts in eastern UP and the terai region (Himalaya foothills) have been affected, of which over 1,200 villages are totally cut off from the rest of the hinterland due to heavy flooding caused by heavy rains and a continuous inflow of water from catchment areas, including bordering areas of Nepal.

The affected districts are Lakhimpur Kheri, Bahraich, Barabanki, Gonda, Mirzapur, Deoria, Sitapur, Bijnore, Faizabad, Pilibhit, Farrukhabad, Mau, Basti, Kushinagar, Badaun, Ambedkarnagar, Gorakhpur, Shravasti, Siddharthnagar, Maharajganj, Azamgarh and Balrampur.

Meanwhile, the state government has deployed several columns of Provincial Armed Constabulary’s (PAC) flood battalion, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the army for relief and rescue operations in the affected districts.

The government has set up a 24-hour monitoring control room in the office of UP Relief Commissioner. Motor boats have been pressed into service and over 600 flood posts established to provide relief to the affected people.

Almost 3,000 homes, including permanent and temporary structures, have either been washed away or partially damaged.

So far, about 50,000 people have been rescued and about 20,000 settled in relief camps built in the affected districts. About Rs 44 lakh has so far been distributed among the affected people as relief amount by the state government.

Meanwhile, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday visited a few flood-affected areas to review the ground situation and monitor the relief and rescue measures by the concerned authorities.

According to the Central Water Commission, several rivers, including Ghagra, Sharda, Rohin, Rapti, Budhi Rapti, Bansi and Kuano, continued to be in spate in the state and were flowing above the danger mark.