Flood fury claimed 68 more lives in Uttar Pradesh even as the deluge situation in most parts of northern India today eased with water level of major rivers receding due to absence of rains.
With fresh casualties reported from Basti, Kannauj, Bijnore, Moradabad and Lakhimpur Kheri districts since yesterday, the death toll rose to 380 in Uttar Pradesh this monsoon season since June.
The flood situation continued to remain grim in the western region of the state, especially in Bijnore, Badaun and Shahjahanpur.
Relief and rescue works were on at a war footing in Bahraich, Pilibhit, Sitapur, Deoria, Gonda , Rampur , Shahjahanpur, Mathura, Bareilly, Saharanpur and Kanshiram Nagar districts.
Ganga was maintaining an upward trend all through from Fatehgarh to Allahabad and from Mirzapur to Ballia, flowing above the danger mark at Fatehgarh, Kannauj and Kanpur dehat.
Ram Ganga was flowing above the danger mark at Moradabad, affecting 217 villages, and Shahjahanpur where 260 villages were worst-hit.
Yamuna was flowing above the danger mark at Mathura and Mavi, while Sharda has crossed the red mark at Palia Kalan (Kheri) and Shardanagar. Ghaghra was above the danger level at Ayodhya and Ballia and almost touching the red mark at Elgin Bridge (Barabanki) because of discharge of water at Bahraich.
However, the State received very little rainfall today.
Several areas in Delhi remained inundated even as the water level in Yamuna river receded, although it continued to flow well above the danger mark.
The water level in Yamuna was at 206.14 metres at 9 am this morning. It is, however, still flowing well above the danger mark of 204.83 metres.
The Inter-State Bus Terminal at Kashmiri Gate has been partially submerged and operations there were affected as waters entered inside the complex.
Haryana meanwhile released another 83,000 cusecs of water. The flood situation in parts of Haryana and Punjab eased with the water inflow in Yamuna and Sutlej rivers decreasing considerably due to absence of rainfall in both the states.
The water level in flood-hit areas of Yamunanagar, Ambala, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Panipat, Sonepat, Jhajjar, Rohtak, Palwal, Bhiwani, Ferozepur, Patiala, Ropar and Ludhiana districts of the twin agrarian states was fast receding and returning back to Yamuna and Sutlej, which were flowing above danger levels for the past few days.
Meanwhile, the effort to plug the 300-feet breach in Yamuna near Lal Ghat at Tajewala in Yamunanagar by the Army is on.
After over two months of rains, the south-west monsoon appeared to be showing signs of withdrawal over Rajasthan.
Weather remained dry in the state in the absence of rains. Bikaner recorded a maximum temperature of 37 deg C, while Jaipur was at a high of 32.8 deg C.
