Ten people were killed and lakhs affected due to floods in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal where major rivers are flowing above danger mark, while two boys are feared dead after they were washed away in flash floods in the Tawi river in Jammu on Wednesday.
In Uttar Pradesh, two persons were killed since Tuesday in the floods which have affected around 8.7 lakh people in 987 villages of 28 districts in the state, officials said.
NDRF teams have been sent to Varanasi, Allahabad, Ghazipur and Ballia, Relief Commissioner D K Singh said, adding, "In these four districts, 30,247 people have been shifted to the relief camps, while 62,397 have been moved to safer places."
The situation has worsened due to release of water from Nepal and the adjoining states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand which has led to further rise in the water levels of the major rivers, he said.
In Bihar, with seven fresh deaths, the toll in the current round of floods mainly due to the swollen Ganga river rose to 29.
While five deaths were reported from Samastipur, one each was reported in Nalanda and Khagaria, a release by State Disaster Management Authority said, adding the floods caused by rising waters of Ganga, Sone, Punpun, Burhi Gandak, Ghaghra and Kosi have affected 29.71 lakh people in 4,222 villages in 24 districts of the state.
In Aurangabad district, one person was killed and eight others feared dead when a country boat ferrying flood victims capsized in swollen Punpun river last evening.
With the latest deaths, toll in Bihar floods including those in Kosi areas earlier, has risen to 127.
Except for a light downpour in Gaya, major parts of Bihar did not witness any rain on Wednesday.
Heavy rains lashed the national capital bringing down the mercury two notches below normal even as humidity levels rose.
"The maximum temperature was recorded at 31.8 degrees Celsius, two notches below normal while the minimum temperature was 27 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal," a MeT official said.
The Safdarjung observatory recorded 5.6 mm rainfall. Humidity levels oscillated between 87 an 64 per cent.
In Jammu, two teenage brothers are feared dead after they were washed away in flash floods in the Tawi river, while another youth was rescued, police said.
In West Bengal, West Midnapore, Hooghly, Howrah, Bankura, Burdwan and Nadia districts are affected due to release of water by Damodar Valley Corporation. In Malda district, around 135 houses were washed away due to erosion in the Ganga river, while 20 villages were inundated with rise in water level of the river.
A few places in the state received little or moderate rains since yesterday, while Kolkata recorded maximum temperature of 32.1 degrees Celsius.
In Punjab and Haryana maximum temperatures hovered close to normal levels, even as light rain lashed a few places.
IMAGE: Houses submerged in flood, in Allahabad. Photograph: PTI Photo
