States Wilt Under Heavy Rain

States Wilt Under Heavy Rain

FPJ BureauUpdated: Thursday, May 30, 2019, 01:44 PM IST
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Morigaon: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh visit a relief camp at Bhakat Gaon in Morigaon district of Assam on Saturday. PTI Photo (PTI7_30_2016_000105B) |

Situation grim in Assam, Rajnath assures help

New Delhi/Gurgaon : A day after major cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Delhi-NCR hogged the headlines for the water logging they faced, attention on Saturday also turned to other parts of the country that have been facing flood-like situations.

Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam – all continue to suffer from floods, while heavy rain in Karnataka pushed parts of downstream Tamil Nadu closer to inundation. Several parts of the country have been affected by floods and heavy rain. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh who visited the flood-affected areas of Assam on Saturday, said the “grave and challenging” situation in the state was beyond his imagination, even as the deluge claimed 29 lives and affected nearly 37 lakh people.

Singh, flanked by Chief

Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh among others, said the state already has Rs 620 crore and the Centre will provide more funds if need arose. “I did not imagine that the situation is so grave. I have spoken to the Chief Minister and his officials. The problem is a big challenge,” the Home Minister said at a press conference after undertaking an aerial view of some places in the state.

Singh informed that 29 people have lost their lives and around 37 lakh people have been affected by the flood in 28 districts. “The state government currently has Rs 620 crore under State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). I have asked them to spend it without any hesitation. If more fund is needed, we are there and we will help in every possible way,” he said.

When asked if the Centre will declare the problem as national calamity, the Home Minister said giving a name to the problem will not help. “Declaring flood as national calamity is not a solution. We should address why floods take place, what steps we should take and how we will minimise the damage. “I will ask the state government to prepare an action plan on the problem. We have to address it through long-term planning. Only short-term measures will not help,” he said.

Incessant rain lashes Mumbai

Mumbai: Incessant rains continued to lash Mumbai city and neighbouring districts on Saturday, throwing normal life out of gear even as weathermen predicted heavy showers across the state for tomorrow. Local trains were running late on the Central Railway on Saturday morning, inconveniencing daily commuters. However, vehicular traffic remained undisrupted and no water logging incidents were reported, disaster management officials said.

Gurgaon effect in Delhi

New Delhi:  Ripple effect of massive gridlock in Gurgaon due to flooding of streets continued to be felt in the national capital with several areas witnessing crawling traffic in the city which received highest rainfall in 10 years, making life difficult for motorists. According to Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency, highest rainfall of 144 mm has been recorded in a span of 24 hours during the last 10 years.Palam Observatory recorded whopping 144 mm of rain in a span of 24 hours from 5.30 PM yesterday out of which 80 mm of rains were recorded in a span of mere three hours from 5:30 am to 8.30 am today.

Prior to this, the record stood at 126 mm of rain on July 28, 2009. The downpour triggered traffic snarls at various intersections and busy roundabouts including ITO and Dhaula Kuan.

Vehicles moved at a snail’s pace on several roads such as Mahipalpur Chowk, Rangpuri U-turn near Radisson hotel, Vayusenabad, Azad Market Chowk, causing hardship to the commuters. “It takes usually 25 minutes to travel from Defence Colony to Dhaulakuan but today I have been stranded for over one and half hour,” a distressed commuter said.

Delhi Traffic Police took to micro-blogging site Twitter to caution commuters of congestion due to waterlogging and said the situation is likely to continue till tomorrow. However, the roads connecting Delhi and Gurgaon on which long tailbacks were witnessed over past two days due to severe waterlogging on NH-8, witnessed better traffic movement today.

An official in the Central water commission said the possibility of Yamuna crossing the warning level was low and there was no reason to worry. “The water level was recorded at 202.98 metres today. It had reached upto 203.8 around 7 PM yesterday,” the official said.

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