Monsoon alert: 8 dead in floods across India, more rains in store, says weather forecast

New Delhi: The flood fury in the country claimed eight more lives on Monday even as the weatherman predicted downpours in several states, which may compound the situation in the deluge-ravaged areas. Torrential rains battered Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and some parts of Odisha , where flash floods had claimed one life yesterday. The floods in Assam claimed five more lives, even as the overall situation improved marginally with around 8 lakh people affected across 17 districts in the state. According to a report by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), three persons lost their lives in Morigaon district of central Assam. One each died in Goalpara and Golaghat districts. [caption id=“attachment_3823327” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] With this, the total number of persons losing their lives in this year’s floods has gone up to 65, including eight in Guwahati. Two more rain-related deaths were reported from Gujarat . The death toll due to torrential rains now stands at 11, officials of the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) said. Rains lashed several parts of the state, especially southern part, over the last 24 hours. Umergam and Kaprada taluka of Valsad district received 99 mm and 98 mm of rainfall respectively. Mandvi in Kutch gauged 94 mm of precipitation, Morva Hadaf in Panchmahal 83 mm, Valsad taluka 69 mm and Bavla of Ahmedabad 65 mm. A man was swept away by flash floods triggered by a cloud burst in Chama district of Himachal Pradesh as rains lashed many other parts of the state. Banjar, which received 77 mm of rains since yesterday, was the wettest place in the state followed by Nahan 73 mm, Salooni 46 mm, Palampur 45 mm, Dharamshala 37 mm, Baijnath 35 mm, Bhoranj 34 mm and Kheri 27 mm, the MeT department said. Relief and rescue operations gained pace following improvement in the situation in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts of Odisha where flash floods claimed one life and left thousands of people marooned. The district administration of Rayagada has declared closure of schools and colleges for three days in Kalyansinghpur block in view of the floods. The deluge severely affected train services on the Rayagada-Titlagarh section as a railway bridge between Theruvali and Singapur Road railway stations was washed away. Meanwhile, two persons were killed after lightning struck them in Odisha’s Ganjam district. Heavy rains pounded several parts of the national capital leading to traffic snarls and water logging in several areas on the first working day of the week. The Safdarjung observatory gauged 20.6 mm of rainfall between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm. Areas under Palam, Lodhi Road, Ridge and Ayanagar recorded 2.4, 45.4, 37.0 and 0.3 mm of rainfall in the same period. Major rivers of Uttar Pradesh including the Ganga, the Sharda and the Ghaghra were flowing close to the danger mark as several places in the state received rains. The weatherman has predicted “extremely heavy rains” at isolated places are very likely in Odisha and coastal Andhra Pradesh. Heavy to very heavy rains are predicted at some places in Goa, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, in Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.