Thaindian News

Lucknow/Dehradun, Aug 19 (IANS) Floods and heavy rains in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have left as many as 115 people dead over the last two months, official reports said Friday.

While the nature’s fury was reported to have taken a toll of 77 people in Uttar Pradesh, at least 38 were left dead in Uttarakhand.

Several parts of Uttarakhand were cut-off on account of landslides and breaches on the roads. A large number of pilgrims to the popular religious destinations of Badrinath, Kedarnath and Gangotri were reported stranded at different places, particularly over the past three days.

The only pilgrimage that remained unaffected was Yamunotri, claimed an official spokesman.

While rains have been lashing large parts of the two states ever since July, bulk of the casualties have taken place over the past 10 days since the downpour turned incessant and heavy.

According to Uttar Pradesh relief commissioner K.K. Sinha: “Seventy-seven people were killed since July on account of rain and floods that led to house collapse, falling of trees and other rain-related disasters.”

He said that “at least 46 of the state’s 81 districts received above average rainfall this monsoon. However, 14 districts were affected by floods largely on account of the rising Nepal-fed Ghagra river that has devastated parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh.”

According to official reports, the flood waters have already inundated 316 villages, where more than 350,000 people live.

A report from the disaster management department in Dehradun confirmed death of 38 people due to floods and rain in major parts of Uttarakhand, where heavy showers have caused landslides following which several major highways have suffered major breaches.

“More than 100 roads, including village link roads, were closed to all vehicular movement,” an official spokesman of the department told IANS on phone from Dehradun.