Rains drench north India; five die in WB floods

Rail traffic remained affected due to heavy rains in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Six trains including the Jodhpur-Gandhidham Express have been cancelled, eight trains partially cancelled and route of four have been changed.

Rains drenched the national capital leading to a dip in the maximum temperature which settled at 31 degrees Celsius, three notches below the season’s average, while the minimum temperature was recorded at 27.8 degrees.

The toll in West Bengal floods rose to 39 with the death of five more persons even as the situation improved due to less rainfall and the receding water level of rivers.

In the 14 flood-hit districts, around 27 lakh people in 106 blocks were badly affected by the flood. The administration opened around 311 relief camps where over 47 thousand people have taken shelter. The flood situation in Odisha’s Jajpur and Kendrapara districts continues to remain grim. People in several villages under 14 gram panchayats of Pattamundai Block in Kendrapara district and eight GPs of Aul block continued to be marooned.

In Kendrapara district, the situation is grim as Brahmani and Kusabhadra rivers are flowing above the danger level at Patrapur, Alava and Indupur.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of those who lost their lives in the floods in Assam and Rajasthan.

In Uttarakhand, two bikers were killed in a landslide at Bhauriyaband on NainitalAlmora highway following intermittent rains. In another landslide along the same highway at Khairana a JCB was buried.

In the state’s capital, Dehradun, the sky remained overcast amid intermittent drizzle as the maximum temperature hovered around 30 degrees Celsius.

The weather department has issued a heavy rain alert for both Kumaon and Garhwal regions of Uttarakhand over the next 72 hours. Heavy rainfall occurred at isolated areas in Jaipur and Udaipur divisions in Rajasthan while light to moderate rains were recorded many places across the state.

Incessant rains led to multiple landslides in Jammu and Kashmir’s Mehar

and Seeri and triggered shooting of stones from a hillock at Panthyal, forcing closure of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway briefly. Katra and the highway towns of Udhampur and Ramban have been lashed by rains since last evening while Jammu city recorded 17 mm of rainfall.