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127 Dead In Bihar, Lakhs Hit By Floods In Northern And Eastern India

The situation has worsened due to release of water from Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and neighboring Nepal.
Flood affected people wait to be rescued at Kasimpurchak in Bihar.
AFP/Getty Images
Flood affected people wait to be rescued at Kasimpurchak in Bihar.

NEW DELHI -- Ten people were killed and lakhs affected due to floods in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal where major rivers are flowing above the danger mark. Two boys were also feared dead after they were washed away in flash flood in Tawi river in Jammu on Wednesday.

In Uttar Pradesh, two people have been killed since Tuesday in the floods which have affected around 8.7 lakh people at 987 villages in 28 districts, officials said.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been sent to Varanasi, Allahabad, Ghazipur and Ballia, relief commissioner D.K. Singh said. "In these four districts, 30,247 people have been shifted to the relief camps, while 62,397 have been moved to safer places," he said.

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, the state disaster management authority said in a statement, adding the floods caused by rising water of Ganga, Sone, Punpun, Burhi Gandak, Ghaghra and Kosi 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 were feared dead when a boat ferrying flood victims capsized in Punpun river on Tuesday evening. With the latest deaths, the 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 see any rain on Wednesday.

Heavy rains also lashed the national capital bringing down temperature two notches below normal even as humidity levels rose. "The maximum temperature was recorded at 31.8 degree Celsius, two notches below normal while the minimum temperature was 27 degree Celsius, a notch below normal," a meteorological department official said.

The Safdarjung observatory recorded 5.6mm rainfall. Humidity levels oscillated between 87% and 64%.

In Jammu, two teenage brothers were feared dead after they were washed away in flash floods in 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 Tuesday, while Kolkata recorded a maximum temperature of 32.1 degree Celsius. In Punjab and Haryana the maximum temperature hovered close to normal levels, even as light rain lashed a few places.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.