Heavy rainfall has been drowning parts of Uttar Pradesh, home to 220 million people. The torrential rain has brought the state to a standstill. In the last seven days, the death toll due to the unprecedented showers have reached 148 in 50 districts, said officials. In Kanpur, a building has collapsed following heavy rainfall, injuring one and killing another. The rescue operation is underway.

According to the Hindustan Times, the most number of deaths are reported from Saharanpur where 11 people lost their lives, followed by Meerut where nine people died. Agra and Kanpur are third in number with eight dead, after which seven deaths are reported from Sonbhadra, and Muzaffarnagar and Lalitpur five each. Most numbers of deaths have occurred due to wall and house collapses, uprooting of trees, electrocution and caving in of land, officials said.

As per the reports, the number of people injured went up to 122 and the number of houses destroyed is 1,185.

District magistrates have been directed to distribute medical care and financial aid to people affected by torrential rain as ordered by the government, said Relief commissioner, Sanjay Kumar. The Meteorological Department (IMD) yesterday predicted heavy rains in the districts of central, east-west UP as well as the Bundelkhand region. The DMs have been alerted by the IMD.

River level crossed the danger mark

Further, an irrigation department officials said the river Yamuna had crossed the danger level at Mawi in Muzaffarnagar district. River Ganga is flowing near the danger level at Narora in Bulandshahar district. Other than that river Sharda has crossed the danger mark at Paliyakala in Lakhimpur Kheri, and Ghaghra river was also flowing above danger mark.

The situation is grim in the rural part of the state. The condition in Karnailganj, Gonna district have turned ugly after water flowing above the danger mark in Ghaghra river has damaged the embankment around the river. The officials have asked the residents to vacate the area.

Yogi Adityanath’s response

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on August 2 directed senior officials of all districts to alert people about the IMD alerts, reports The New Indian Express.

NDMA Blog:#UttarPradesh is highly vulnerable to floods, which affect some or the other part of the State every year. Of the total geographical area of 240.98 lakhs hectare, approximately 73.36 lakhs hectare land is flood prone.https://t.co/FqHLydkgJ9 pic.twitter.com/VA9m0YYF89

— NDMA India (@ndmaindia) August 1, 2018

The minister has also asked the officials to undertake tours of the affected areas to identify dilapidated buildings and get them vacated. The opposition party leader Akhilesh Yadav has also instructed his party workers to help people stranded in the flood-affected areas.

Yogi Adityanath just before the start of monsoon had asked the municipalities to start the preparations to prevent a situation like water logging in the state.

The Logical Indian take

The situation in Uttar Pradesh shows the lack of preparation for the ongoing monsoon season in the state. Every year many people die due to rain-related issues, yet the state government has failed to take adequate measures in trying to tackle the situation. We hope that casualties are prevented from happening in the coming days.

Also Read: Gorakhpur Submerged After 8 Hours Of Rain, Citizens Tweet Images Of Waterlogged Roads Demanding Action