Flood Situation in UP: 3 killed, 5 districts affected, villages marooned as Ganga continues to rise

Three children died and hundreds of villages in five districts-- Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Kanpur, Unnao and Fatehpur-- are facing flood situation as Ganga continued to rise amid heavy rain and release of water from Narora dam.

While two kids were swept away in raging waters of Ganga in Unnao , one child died after his shanty collapsed in Fatehpur, said an official.

The river was flowing 17 inches above the danger mark in Fatehpur and crossed the warning mark in Kanpur. Besides Ganga, Yamuna and its tributaries were also rising.

Hundreds of villagers in the five districts were forced to move to relief camps, said an official.

In Farrukhabad, 300 villages were affected and condition in about 100 was grave. Some 30 connecting roads were washed away and the route connecting the district with Badaun has been closed, the official said.

The official added that Qasimpur village in Kannauj was marooned and Bakshipurwa faces a similar fate. Some 200 families have moved out of the villages. Water of Ganga’s tributary Kali has entered seven villages where the schools were submerged.

The teachers of five schools reached on boat in Madarpur in Fatehpur where half a dozen villages were badly affected. Some 200 villages in four tehsils - Bangarmau, Safipur, Bighapur, Sadar - and urban part of Shuklagunj were flooded.

On Tuesday alone the gushing waters brought down 40 houses and wiped out 30 odd connecting routes in Unnao.

“We are keeping a close watch on the situation,” said Devesh Kumar Pandey, district magistrate Unnao.

“About 1,500 people were in 14 relief camps we are running now. Each of the family today was given 48 kg of edibles,” he said.

However, people in Mana Bangla and Soni Bangla villages criticised the relief work.

“Crop in thousands of acres of land is destroyed. All we have been told is to move out,” said Arjun of Mana Bangla.

The exodus from villages on Ganga catchment has begun in Kanpur too. About 200 people reached three camps on Tuesday. Announcements were being made from the boats asking people to leave the villages and get to the relief camp.

The water has entered six villages in Rani Ghat, Katri Kheora, Katri Singhpur, Hindupur and Pratappur.

The Hydel department on Tuesday refused to run electricity wire to the relief camps citing the rise in water level on both the ends of river. The engineers said the bamboo poles would not be able to withstand the flow of water.

The situation could further worsen further as 1.99 lakh cusec of additional water released from Narora would reach Farrukhabad in 48 hours and in another 48 hours it would get to Kanpur.

ADM (finance) Sanjay Yadav said the administration was fully prepared and in a state of high alert. The administration has prohibited fishermen from going into the river on boats, which would be used in relief and rescue operations.