Haryana villagers rescued from flooded Yamuna

Rescue teams evacuated 52 villagers, including 15 children, from a riverine island as the waters of the Yamuna river swelled Sunday in Yamunanagar district of Haryana, an official said here Monday.

A team of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters rescued them.

The rescued villagers are from Lapra village in Yamunanagar district, 120 km from here.

Rescue operations were also on in Karnal district where nearly 200 people were stranded in Shergarh Tapu and Chandrao villages, 130 km from here.

Krishna Mohan, Haryana additional chief secretary and financial commissioner, Revenue and Disaster Management, said 150 residents of Shergarh Tapu were being evacuated through motor boats, while IAF helicopters were flying to Chandrao to evacuate 42 stranded villagers.

The Yamuna river, which enters Haryana from Uttarakhand at Hathnikund barrage in Yamunanagar district, had swelled in the last 36 hours after over 800,000 cusecs of water was released Monday morning through the Hathnikund barrage, officials said here.

Over 4.7 cusecs of water had been released from the barrage Sunday.

The Haryana government has issued a flood warning to district authorities in Yamuna's downstream districts of Karnal, Panipat and Sonepat. The river then enters Delhi.

"Haryana has recorded a maximum of 23.57 cm (235.7 mm) rainfall since June 15 with a maximum of 18.06 cm (180 mm) rainfall from 8 a.m. June 16 to 8 a.m. today (Monday)," a state government spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that the army at Ambala was on standby to meet any eventuality due to floods.