Heavy
rains lash North India, W. Bengal,
Manipur, Odisha flooded, 70 people died
Manipur, Odisha flooded, 70 people died
New Delhi: The depression caused by cyclone Komen,
which has been hovering over Bangladesh, has triggered heavy rain in India’s
northeastern and eastern states, killing at least 70 people in West Bengal, Manipur
and Odisha.
As many as 50 people have died so
far in West Bengal where chief minister Mamata Banerjee called in the army for
rescue operations in worst flood-hit areas on Sunday, 2nd August
2015. About 18 lakh people affected in marooned areas in 18 districts of
Bengal.
Indian Army personnel carried out
rescue operations at Jhawdanga village in Purbasthali Block 2 in Burdwan
district from their base camp at Panagarh.
“Around 450 villagers have been
already rescued from the flooded Jhawdanag village were river Bhagirathi is
overflowing dangerously. Another 150 villagers are still stuck and the army is
carrying out rescue operations,” Burdwan district magistrate Soumitra Mohan informed.
Various rivers breached their
embankments on Sunday, inundating several areas. Districts including Burdwan,
Murshidabad, West Midnapore, Howrah were among those affected. Parts of Kolkata
also remained waterlogged after continuous downpour for the past two days.
Both state and national highways
in several districts were damaged, affecting traffic. While traffic on NH 60
was severely affected in Birbhum, the administration in Murshidabad stopped
traffic on the state highway connecting Kandi and Salar after the road was
flooded.
In Manipur, at least 20 villagers were killed in a
massive landslide at Joumol village, about 180 km south of Imphal. Two
people including a 60-year-old farmer also died in Langmeidong and Rengkai.
Several houses were swept away as
a landslide devastated a village in Chandel district, which borders Myanmar.
Areas in and around state capital Imphal and its outskirts were submerged.
National Disaster Response Force
(NDRF) team has arrived to carry out rescue operations.
“A team of Assam Rifles have
reached the spot (Joumol village) today with the help of a helicopter and
carrying out search and rescue operation,” an official source said.
Moreh, a commercial town near
Indo-Myanmar border has been cut off from Imphal due to landslide. Many
villages in Ukhrul district have also been cut off from the rest of the state.
Several hundred people living on
riverbanks have been moving to safer places.
In Odisha, 10 villages were
marooned. Around 479,000 people in 597 villages were affected by floods.
"All the major rivers in the
state are flowing below the danger level. However, inflow of rain water from
West Bengal, where heavy rainfall occurred under the effect of cyclonic system
Komen, has caused marooning of some more villages in Balasore district,"
special relief commissioner GVV Sarma said.
In Gujrath and Rajasthan army has started rescue
operations in areas marooned by water.
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