Lucknow: Incessant rain during the retreating monsoon has created havoc in most parts of Uttar Pradesh.
While more than half of UP districts facing drought like situation earlier, are now under threat of flood, six people have died in the last 24 hours due to lightning and house collapse incidents. Water logging has made life worse in the residential areas of many cities and in the rural parts the threat of flood is looming large as rivers have started swelling.
Heavy to moderate rainfall expected in the coming days
The weather department has predicted heavy to moderate rains in the coming seven more days. In the state capital of Lucknow 93.9 millimeter rain was recorded on Monday alone leading to waterlogging in many housing colonies and traffic jams on roads. Earlier on Sunday heavy rainfall was recorded in many districts including Lucknow, Barabanki, Meerut, Moradabad, Kanpur, Ghaziabad and Ayodhya.
The union defence minister and local MP, Rajnath Singh called the District Magistrate of Lucknow on Monday to know about the damage caused in the city due to heavy rains and gave instructions for speedy relief to people. The DM of Lucknow issued an appeal asking people to remain in their homes and not to move out. The Divisional Commissioner of Lucknow Roshan Jacob visited many areas on Monday to review the situation.
School shut in several districts
The administration of Lucknow, Moradabad, Barabanki and many more districts announced holidays in schools on Monday due to heavy rains. In Moradabad railway track was marooned and operations of nine trains were cancelled on Monday. One person died in Kanpur, a woman in Lucknow and two children in Barabanki. All these deaths were caused due to collapse during rain. In Mirzapur, seven students were injured due to lightning and were admitted to hospital for treatment. At many places in the state roads have collapsed.
The weather department has issued a warning of heavy to moderate rains in the next seven days citing a cyclone developed in the Bay of Bengal as the reason behind it. On Monday evening it predicted moderate to heavy rains in Lucknow and adjoining areas. Meanwhile the officials of the agriculture department have said that the rain in the retreating monsoon could be a boon for the paddy crop. They said that the rain in September would help in maintaining moisture for a long time which is helpful for the Rabi crop also.
