New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Assam on Saturday to take stock of the flood situation.
He was accompanied by Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju and Jitendra Singh. The Union Home Minister will make an aerial survey of flood-affected areas in Nagaon and Morigaon districts and the Kaziranga National Park.
Official sources said he would later meet the inmates of a relief camp in Morigaon district. Before leaving for Delhi later in the day, he will hold a meeting with Sonowal, ministers of concerned departments and senior government officials at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport.
According to official sources, nearly 20 lakh people in 21 of the state’s 33 districts have been affected. The affected districts were Lakhimpur, Golaghat, Bongaigaon, Jorhat, Dhemaji, Sivasagar, Barpeta, Kokrajhar, Dibrugarh, Goalpara, Tinsukia, Dhubri, Morigaon, Sonitpur, Biswanath, Darrang, Nalbari, Baksa, Udalguri, Kamrup (metro) and Chirang.
The deluge was triggered by incessant rains for the past week. Heavy rainfall in the upper catchment areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan has worsened the situation. The sources said NDRF, SDRF and Indian Army were helping the authorities in evacuating the affected.
Five lakh displaced people have taken shelter at relief camps. Floods have also caused massive damage to infrastructure, including roads and bridges.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has said that the railways will provide free wagons for transportation of essential commodities to the flood-affected districts of Assam.
In Uttar Pradesh, all major rivers of Terai region continue to flow either above or near the danger mark due to continuous rain in upper Himalayan reaches and excess water release from barrages.
A total of 52 Tehsils of 20 districts and over 800 villages with over two lakhs persons are flood affected. Most among them include Siddharthanagar, Pilibhit, Barabanki, Basti, Kushinagar and Badaun.
The administration has established as many as 41 relief camps in the affected districts.
The farmers of these flood affected districts are facing heavy loss as thousands of acres of their paddy and other Kharif crops have either been submerged under flood water or have been totally eroded away by the streams of bulging rivers.
Livestock in these flooded regions is also facing hardship because of acute shortage of fodder. In Bihar, there is no improvement in the flood situation. As many as 26 people have, so far, died in flood related incidents in the state.
Maximum causalities have been reported from Supaul, Purnia and Kishanganj. Surging water of Mahananda river are spreading in Katihar, Purnia and Kishanganj following heavy rain in catchment areas of Nepal.
The flood situation in these districts continues to be grim due to spreading of water. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said the embankments would be constructed on river Mahananda in five phases.
He said the Principal Secretary of Agriculture Department has been made the Special Commissioner in Katihar to oversee the relief operation.
Meanwhile, the state government has instructed to distribute two thousand quintals of food grains among flood victims every day.
In Tamil Nadu, flood alert has been issued in low lying areas near south Pennai river in Krishnagiri district. Heavy rain has hit normal life in many parts of Salem district. Chennai MeT office said the south west monsoon has been vigorous over north Tamil Nadu.
Heavy rain in Karnataka has led to an increased inflow of water into rivers and lakes in Krishnagiri and Salem districts of Tamil Nadu.
In Krishnagiri, South Pennai river is in spate. The Kelavarapally dam has almost reached its full capacity of 44 feet. For the safety of dam total inflow of 2320 cusecs water is being released from the dam.
Flood alerts have been issued in low lying areas near South Pennai river. Water has seeped into more than 500 houses in the district.
Heavy rain has led to flash floods in Sarabanga river in Salem district. Road bridge between Danishpettai and Kadayampatty near Omallur has been washed away by flash floods.
Incessant heavy rain has crippled normal life in several parts of
Bengaluru. Water logging has been reported from many areas, with a number of houses flooded.
Low-lying areas, particularly Kodichikkanahalli and Bilekahalli, were the worst affected by the flooding as water entered houses following the breach of a lake.
Overflowing lakes and drains coupled with uprooted trees compounded woes for commuters.
Emergency service personnel were pressed into service and the control room of city civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike was working round-the-clock to attend to the complaints.
