Bihar toll 156, twins born on boat

With three more deaths being reported on Sunday, the toll from floods in Bihar rose to 156. In neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, the Ganga continued to flow above the danger level.

The three deaths were reported from Bihar’s Samastipur, while twins were born on an NDRF rescue boat in Patna.

The Ganga was flowing above the red mark in four districts.

In the national capital, it was a sultry day, with the maximum temperature settled three notches above the normal at 37 degrees Celsius. The minimum was 27.5 degrees Celsius.

An NDRF release said that they had got a request for help from the family of Rekha Devi, 25, who was pregnant. Within 50 minutes, an NDRF team reached Bihar’s Chandrapura village to shift Devi to the Mohanpur primary health centre. However, she gave birth to twins on board.

The infants, along with the mother, were admitted to the PHC.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar inspected relief camps in Bhagalpur. He later reached Purnea, where he held a meeting with top officials. He will visit Katihar on Monday.

Over 5.56 lakh people have been rescued so far from the 12 flood-affected districts. The government is plying 2,821 boats for evacuation.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Ganga and Yamuna were receding, but were still above the danger mark at several places.

8.7 lakh people in 987 villages in Varanasi, Allahabad, Ghazipur and Ballia remain affected due to floods. The state government has alerted the health department for outbreak of any disease.

According to a Central Water Commission report, river Ganga is receding everywhere in the state but is still flowing above danger mark at Varanasi, Ghazipur and Ballia.

The flood situation in West Bengal’s Malda district remained unchanged with the Ganga water level standing static at 48 cm above the extreme danger level.

Additional District Magistrate Kanchan Chowdhury said over 5,550 families in 45 villages are affected.

In Rajasthan, heavy rainfall occurred at isolated places in Kota, Udaipur and Jodhpur divisions. Light to moderate rains at many other areas in the state.

Keshoraipatan in Bundi recorded maximum of 14 cm rains followed Pirawa in Jhalawar (at 11 cm) till this morning since yesterday while Kota registered 10 cm precipitation.

The MeT department has issued heavy rainfall warning at isolated areas tomorrow.

Several places in Himachal Pradesh received heavy rains with Dharamshala being the wettest (106 mm rains) while Jogindernagar received 80 mm rains.

Meanwhile, most parts of Punjab and Haryana faced their maximum temperatures upto three notches above normal, barring few places where it was one notch below normal.

In Chandigarh, the joint capital of the two states, the maximum settled at 36 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal.