UP flood toll touches 82; weather mostly dry in north

The death toll from flood-related incidents in Uttar Pradesh touched 82 today though water level in major rivers started receding in the absence of rains as Southwest Monsoon significantly weakened over northern region.
Barring a few places in Uttarakhand, the weather remained dry in the rest of north India, including Delhi where people reeled under another hot and humid day.
With rains eluding the capital, day temperature rose to 38.4 degrees Celsius, two points above normal. Yesterday, it had settled at 37 degrees. The minimum in the capital stood at 28 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal.
The humidity in the air swayed between 37 per cent and 81 per cent.

In Uttar Pradesh, where several districts have been flooded, the death toll increased to 82 with 19 more deaths being reported in the past 24 hours.
While six persons died in flood-related incidents in Balrampur district, four deaths were reported from Sitapur, three from Bahraich and two each from Barabanki and Ballia districts and one each in Gonda and Lakhimpur since yesterday, official sources said.

Bahraich is worst affected with as many as 32 deaths reported so far. More than five lakh residents of 227 villages in Bahraich district were affected by the deluge.
In Shravasti, around one lakh people in more than 144 villages were affected and crops on 8,000 hectares area have been destroyed. Hundreds of villages were still marooned in other affected districts of the state.

Barring light to moderate rains in isolated places, the weather remained clear in most parts of Uttarakhand allowing char dham pilgrims to leave for Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines that remained out of bound for the people for several days during this monsoon.
According to official report, the weather was clear in Sonprayag, Gaurikund, Junglechatti, Bhimbali, Linchauli and Kedarnath in Rudraprayag district and most of the roads including the highway to the Himalayan shrine was open for both light and heavy vehicles up to Sonprayag.
Ukhimath in the state recorded 1.25 mm of rainfall, Munsyari 3 mm and Dharchula 37.40 mm.