Heavy rainfall in North India has killed at least 38 people and triggered landslides that left hundreds of people in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand stranded, the Hindustan Times reported on Tuesday. Although the rain subsided on Monday, several rivers were in spate.
The situation was particularly grim in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The India Meteorological Department on Monday said Himachal Pradesh recorded highest ever rainfall in a 24-hour period, breaking a 70-year record, ANI reported. A few districts such as Lahaul and Spiti, and Keylong received snow, leaving 897 tourists stranded, according to Hindustan Times.
The Himachal Pradesh government has released Rs 15 crore for restoration work, according to ANI. Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur made the statement in his address to deputy commissioners through video conferencing from Shimla.
In Uttarakhand, the toll climbed to 12 on Monday, News18 reported. Cloudbursts hit a dozen villages in Uttarkashi district, washing away homes and damaging agricultural land. It is the worst-affected district. Most rivers in Uttarakhand were in spate, with the Ganga crossing the danger mark in Haridwar and flowing close to it in Rishikesh, reported PTI.
On Tuesday, National Disaster Response Force personnel conducted rescue operations across Punjab. In Ludhiana, five to six teams were kept on standby, reported ANI.
The previous day, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had said Rs 100 crore would be allocated for emergency relief and rehabilitation in flood-hit areas. Singh, who visited flood-affected areas near Ropar town, also ordered a survey of cultivation land to assess the losses suffered by farmers, reported The Tribune. The survey will be conducted once the floodwater recedes.
While water has already started receding to some extent in villages near Ropar, areas near the city of Anandpur Sahib are still inundated. The chief minister also visited the Indian Institute of Technology in Ropar, which has asked students to go back to their homes for a week as three substations that supply electricity to the campus are submerged.
The Indian Air Force rescued nine people stranded in the floods in Haryana’s Karnal district and conducted another rescue operation in Jammu.
In Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked residents of low-lying areas near the Yamuna to shift to temporary shelters set up by authorities as the water level rose. The river breached the danger mark in the afternoon, and was flowing at 205.36 metres at 6 pm, 30 cm above the danger mark.
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