Though they don't create as much of a buzz on news and social media as floods and traffic jams in Mumbai or Gurgaon, the deluge in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan caused by heavy rains has killed around 200 people, displaced several lakhs and destroyed property worth thousand of crores.
The video above, uploaded by YouTube user Gaurav Trivedi, shows us scenes of devastation from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during the floods this year. We can see submerged homes, inundated swathes of land and people wading through chest-high water.
In Uttar Pradesh, as many as 43 people have been killed and 16 lakh affected by floods. In Allahabad and Ballia, all schools have reportedly been ordered shut for the next few days.
In Rajasthan, 72 people have been airlifted since August 20 as part of rescue operations. In Bihar, the worst-hit, the toll crossed 60 earlier this month and 1.3 lakh people have been evacuate to higher grounds. About 1,537 boats are in service to carry out further rescue operations.
In Madhya Pradesh – where Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan faced ridicule after photographs of him being carried by two policemen over flood waters were circulated – floods have displaced 4,500 and claimed 17 lives.
Below is a video by private weather forecaster Skymet, which has predicted that the flood situation is set to worsen in East and Central India, with heavy rains likely in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.
Though these states have faced flood-like situations for a better part of the monsoon season, discussions and videos of these incidents are scarce on social media. Below are reports by ANI and Doordarshan on the the worsening situation in the North and Central Indian states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh and the rescue efforts underway.
Even animals are facing the brunt of the floods. Below is a rescue operation of a leopard in Madhya Pradesh.
In Assam, where floodwaters started receding earlier this month after three weeks or so, at least 218 animals were killed in the Kaziranga National Park, large parts of which had been submerged. Around 30 people have been killed in the North Eastern state owing to the floods.
This video posted by OneIndia News on August 1 shows us the situation in Kaziranga, home to the one-horned rhinoceros.
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