A DEADLY MONSOON
Large parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar suffered last week from heavy rains that led to flooding and the deaths of well over a hundred people in just four days. It is the culmination of the rainiest monsoon since 1994, which left many dead across the country and inflicted substantial damage. The monsoon began slowly but picked up to cross the ‘Long Period Average’ (between 1951 and 2000) with a week of the season still to go. In UP, chief minister Yogi Adityanath cancelled all official leave and promised relief efforts would be stepped up. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar blamed the disaster on the “imbalance in nature”, inviting derision from opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav, who said a “few hours of rain” had “exposed a loudmouth state government”.
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The reported death toll in Bihar on Tuesday, October 1, after 4 days of rain; in July, 130 died and 8.85 million people were affected in floods across 13 districts
370 mm
rainfall in Bihar in just 48 hours—about a third of its average annual rainfall of 1,334 mm
104
people died between September 26 and 30 in UP; 404 mm of rainfall recorded in Varanasi in September (up to Sep. 28); highest since 1976
863
prisoners had to be moved from the district jail in Ballia due to flooding
48%
more than the average September rainfall across India recorded this year
889.3 mm
Average rainfall across the country from June 1 to September 23, a full 7 days before the official end of monsoon; all-India LPA (1951-2000): 887.5mm
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of 113 reservoirs monitored by the Central Water Commission are at full capacity (as of Sep. 26); water levels in reservoirs are up 21% on 10-year average