58 killed as monsoon rains batter north
AT LEAST 58 DEAD, PERIMETER WALL OF 16TH CENTURY FATEHPUR SIKRI FORT DAMAGED
Two days of rains trigger house collapses and flood wide swathes of land as weather officials predict more downpour in the next 48 hours in the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh
At least 58 people have been killed in the past two days as monsoon rains triggered house collapses and flooded wide swaths of land in northern parts of the country, officials said yesterday.
Weather officials predicted more rain in the next 48 hours in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh.
The deaths occurred since rains started on Thursday night, said government spokesman Awanish Awasthi. Ten of the victims died in Meerut district. In Agra, the northern Indian city where the Taj Mahal is located, at least six died, including four members of a family who perished in a house collapse, Awasthi said.
He said the dead included women and children.
Officials said at least 53 people were injured and over 200 houses were damaged in the torrential rains.
Schools closed
Rains also damaged an outer boundary wall of the 16th century Fatehpur Sikri fort. However, there was no harm to the main monument and to human life, said another official, P.K. Singh.
Singh said authorities closed schools in the area yesterday as the weather department issued an alert for more rains.
India’s monsoon season usually lasts until October.
Authorities in Delhi yesterday began to evacuate hundreds of people living in the Yamuna catchment area as a flood threat loomed following a sharp rise in the river’s level, officials said.
Heavy rains continued to lash many parts of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, with authorities releasing more water at Haryana’s Hathnikund barrage during the day.
The Yamuna in Delhi was flowing above the danger mark at 205.06 metres by 10am, an Irrigation and Flood Control Department official said.
“Over 10,000 persons have been affected. People earlier living on the river bed and lowlying areas are being shifted out,” Nodal Officer (Preet Vihar) Arun Gupta said.
Water levels
He cautioned that the Yamuna water level was expected to go up by nightfall yesterday.
“On Saturday morning, over 200,000 cusecs was released into the Yamuna from the barrage — which provides drinking water to New Delhi,” an official told IANS in Chandigarh.
The official said villagers living along the river have been alerted on the release of excess water.
The official said that water at the Hathnikund barrage along the Haryana-Uttarakhand border had risen to alarming levels owing to overnight downpour in catchment states, making authorities release the extra water.