70 lakh displaced in Bihar, northeast floods, toll mounts to 47

Several parts of Bihar and northeast India were submerged under floods triggered by heavy rains, which has claimed the lives of 47 people so far.

In a key development, the weatherman issued red alert for six districts of Kerala, predicting over 200mm rainfall in 24 hours.

In Assam, the deluge spread to 30 of the state’s 33 districts, affecting nearly 43 lakh people and claiming 15 lives, besides submerging rhino habitats the Kaziranga National Park, Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary and the Manas National Park.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal over phone and discussed about the prevailing condition on Monday.

Altogether, 42.87 lakh people in 4,157 villages are reeling under the impact of the floods that have overrun 1,53,211 hectares of farm land with standing crops, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said.

The water level of the Brahmaputra rose above the danger level across the state. The town of Bokakhat has been cut off from the rest of entire upper Assam due to the flood waters, the release said.

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In Bihar, the death toll mounted to 24, with 25.66 lakh people reeling from the deluge in 12 districts of the state following incessant rains in neighbouring country Nepal.

With five rivers in spate, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar undertook his second aerial survey of the flood-hit areas.

Of the 24 deaths reported till 6 pm on Monday, Sitamarhi accounted for 10 deaths, while nine were reported from Araria, four from Kishanganj and one from Sheohar, a Disaster Management Department report said.

Four deaths were reported till Sunday evening from Araria (2), Sheohar (1) and Kishanganj (1).

According to the Water Resources Department daily bulletin, five rivers — Baghmati, Kamla Balan, Lalbakeya, Adhwara and Mahananda — are flowing above danger level at various places in the state.

As many as 119 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in flood-hit areas of the country, including Assam and Bihar, and a 24X7 control room has been set up in Delhi to closely monitor the regions, an official statement said.

The teams, each comprising around 45 personnel, are equipped with boats, divers and other flood rescue-related equipment, it said.

Mizoram, Meghalaya too face flood fury

At least 1,000 families had to be evacuated in Lunglei district of Mizoram as raging waters of the Khawthlangtuipui river flooded 32 villages, while rain-related incidents led to the death of five people in the state, officials said.

At least 32 villages in the Tlabung area of south Mizoram’s Lunglei district were flooded by the river Khawthlangtuipui. Around 700 homes were submerged in the district and 800 families had to be shifted to safer places, the officials said.

Nearly 200 families were evacuated from central Mizoram’s Serchhip district, they said.

Several towns and villages remained inaccessible due to road blockades caused by landslides, while power supply and telecommunication services were also severely disrupted across the state, the officials said.

Incessant rains across Meghalaya for the last seven days and rising waters of two rivers flooded the plains of West Garo Hills district, affecting at least 1.14 lakh people.

A total of 57,700 people, residents of 50 villages in Demdema block and over 66,400, residents of 104 villages in Selsella block have been affected due to the floods, they said.

Rising waters of the Brahmaputra and the Jinjiram rivers, both flowing from Assam, submerged the low-lying areas of the district, an official said.

Meanwhile, the low-lying areas of the state’s capital city Shillong were also flooded.

However, the flood situation in Tripura showed signs of improvement as Khowai and Haora rivers started receding, officials said.

Also read: Death toll in Nepal floods reaches 50

Personnel of the NDRF and security forces rescued a number of people in the flood-affected Khowai and West Tripura districts, they said.

Around 13,000 people in West Tripura district and 2,000 in Khowai district have taken shelter in government buildings and local clubs where temporary relief camps have been opened by the administration.

Kerala: Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issues red alert (very heavy rain to extremely heavy rain) for Idukki and Malappuram districts on 18th July. pic.twitter.com/wxsuZbGekW

— ANI (@ANI) July 16, 2019

The weatherman has issued a yellow warning for heavy rains in several parts of the country, including Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi.

An India Meteorological Department (IMD) bulletin said extremely heavy rains — over 204 mm rains in 24 hours — are likely in six districts of Kerala.

28 killed in Pak-occupied Kashmir floods

Heavy rains and flash floods have wreaked havoc in the Neelum Valley in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), killing at least 28 people and sweeping away mosques and houses, according to a media report.

Over 150 houses in the Laswa area of the valley were damaged and dozens of people were swept away in floods that officials said were caused by a cloudburst, the Express Tribune reported.

Two mosques were also completely destroyed in the flash floods, officials said. Cell phone and internet services were also affected in the area.

The Pakistani military on Monday airlifted 52 stranded people from a village and shifted them to camps and safer places, the Army said in a statement.

Several people are still stranded in their houses and efforts are underway to evacuate them. Teams including officials from the district administration, disaster management authority and local police are conducting rescue operations in the area.

State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) Director Operations Saaedur Rehman Qureshi confirmed the death toll and said it was likely to rise, the daily reported.

He said the deceased include 10 Islamic missionaries. We are frantically searching for more missing people. This is a popular tourist spot so there is a strong probability of the death toll increasing,” he was quoted as saying.

(With agencies inputs)

Also read: 90% of Kaziranga National Park submerged