Floods kill at least 113 in north India in late monsoon burst

JAIL, HOSPITALS SUBMERGED, SCHOOLS CLOSED AS PREVENTIVE MEASURE

Heavy rains have killed at least 113 people in India’s Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states over the past three days, officials said yesterday, as flood waters swamped a major city, inundated hospital wards and forced the evacuation of inmates from a jail.

India’s monsoon season that begins in June usually starts to retreat by early September, but heavy rains have continued across parts of the country this year, triggering floods.

An official said that at least 93 people had died in most populous Uttar Pradesh since Friday after its eastern areas were lashed by intense monsoon showers. Rising water levels forced authorities to shift 900 inmates from a prison in eastern Ballia district, police officer Santosh Verma said.

In neighbouring Bihar, the death toll from the latest bout of rain had reached 20 yesterday, a state government official said.

Bihar’s capital city of Patna has been badly hit, with waistdeep flood waters across many streets, and entering homes, shops, and even the wards of a major hospital. In some parts, authorities deployed boats to rescue residents.

“The rains have stopped but there is waterlogging in many areas,” Bihar’s Additional Secretary in the Disaster Relief Department Amod Kumar Sharan said.

Weather department officials said this month that monsoon rains were likely to be above average for the first time in six years.

Relief measures

The disaster management department in Patna said that the state government has urged the Indian Air Force to send a helicopter for airdropping of food packets and other relief material in marooned areas.

Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi, whose own residence was affected by the deluge, was seen doing the rounds of the city clad in a T-shirt and shorts, and issuing instructions to officials.

The district administration has ordered closure of all schools until tomorrow as a preventive measure and warned of strict punishment to those who violated the direction.

PTI An elderly person being rescued from a flood-affected colony at Rajendra Nagar in Patna yesterday. In Bihar, the death toll from the latest bout of rain had reached 20 yesterday.

PTI Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi (centre), whose own residence was affected by the deluge, was seen doing the rounds of Patna clad in a T-shirt and shorts.

PTI Workers clean the floor at the Intensive Care Unit of flood-hit Nalanda Medical College and Hospital, in Patna yesterday.