Flood fury in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh leaves 28 dead

The Health department has been asked to keep teams ready and the electricity departments have been instructed to gear up for supplying power in relief centres. 
Vehicles stuck on a road following a landslide due to heavy monsoon rain in Shimla. (Photo | PTI)
Vehicles stuck on a road following a landslide due to heavy monsoon rain in Shimla. (Photo | PTI)

CHANDIGARH: Twenty-eight people have lost their lives after incessant rains battered the states of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and leaving several places flooded and causing widespread damage to roads and buildings. 

Three of a family died in a village near Punjab's Khanna when the roof of their house collapsed following heavy rains. The deceased were identified as Surjit Singh (35), his wife Baljinder Kaur (32) and their son Gurpreet Singh (9). The couple's 10-year-old daughter escaped unhurt.

Deputy commissioner of Jalandhar Varinder Kumar Sharma has asked the sub-divisional magistrates of Phillaur, Nakodar and Shahkot to get villagers staying in low-lying areas evacuated in the wake of releasing 1,89,940 cusecs of water from the Ropar Headworks. Speaking to media, Sharma said arrangements for dry fodder for animals have been made. The mandis will be converted into relied centres, if the need arises, he further added. 

The Health Department has been asked to keep teams ready and the electricity departments have been instructed to gear up for supplying power in relief centres. 

Evacuation is underway in dozens of villages in Anandpur Sahib and Nurpur Bedi blocks of Ropar district. Teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rescued people from Gharat basti of Anapur Sahib as Sutlej river flooded. The area also reported a child drowning.

Over a dozen villages are left to be evacuated near Bhudhkir and Sarsa rivers as flood waters have entered low lying areas of the city. Twelve trains have been cancelled. A small dam at Chotti Badi Nangal in Mohali was also damaged. The villagers in Khera Bet and Mattewara villager in Ludhiana fear that water will soon enter their houses. Also, flooding has been reported in Fategarh Sahib, Pathankot and SBS Nagar districts.

While water in most of the dams (Bhankra, Pong and Pandoh) remained closed to the danger mark.

In neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, the flood and rain fury was at its peak. Eighteen people, including two children have died.

Two teenage girls Divya and Vishaka died in building collapse near RTO office in Shimla and their father Haridas was pulled out of the rubble. 

In another incident, a labourer Shah Alam died when a wall collapsed over him at Lower Cymmetry in Shimla. At Halnidgar in Kumarsain two deaths were reported. Two others including a 70-year old was missing after a landslide in Lonagram in Chamba. One person swept away by the gushing waters of Sajvar nullah in Kullu district.

Heavy rains in several areas of Himachal on Sunday triggered landslides, disrupted road traffic. The traffic on the Chandigarh-Manali highway remains suspended between Mandi and Kullu, after the water level in the Beas river rose abnormally near Dwada submerging the road. Also, Shimla-Tutikandi bypass highway closed due to landslides at several places.

Water from Hathnikund barrage in Haryana released, Delhi on alert

Around six lakh cusecs of water was released from Hathnikund barrage in Yamunanagar on Sunday afternoon.

The water level has reached 203.37 meters in Yamuna river and in the next thirty-six hours, it is expected to touch 204.5 meters. The officials have informed their counterparts in Delhi. An advisory has been issued and concerned agencies are on high alert.

The India Meteorological Department in Shimla said that today’s showers were the highest rainfall recorded by the state in 24 hours, over the past 70 years.

The state as a whole received 102.5 mm and this was 1,065 per cent more than normal
for a day.  

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