Water released from dam worsening flooding: Mamata Banerjee

The chief minister also advised people in affected areas to take shelter in relief camps to avoid “untoward incidents”. More than 10 lakh food packets have been airdropped or distributed to the flood victims, an official statement said here on Sunday.

Officials say that 12 districts, 210 blocks, 47 municipalities and more than 9,691 villages have been affected due to the floods, causing the destruction of 58,000 houses and affecting close to two million people.

Rajasthan has experienced excessive rainfall in most of its districts.

Incessant rainfall has submerged large parts of the state and five districts – Murshidabad, Burdwan, Birbhum Howrah and Hooghly – are still on high alert.

Officials said teams from the National Disaster Management Response Force and the army had been sent on search and rescue operations but roads and bridges had been washed away, making it hard to reach stranded survivors.

Banerjee instructed a number of ministers and senior officials to visit the affected areas and supervise relief arrangement. As reported by State government due to cyclone KOMEN, heavy to very heavy rainfall occurred at isolated places in nearly all South West Bengal districts.

Of the many stories of bravery that have come out, the act of Havaldar Yousouf stands out as he rescued a drowning mother and her baby in Shervo village, situated approximately 50 kms north of Bhuj in Kutch district of Gujarat. The floods have affected some 156,000 people in total, throughout 12 districts. As many as 36,90,627 people in the state have been hit.

Fishermen have been warned not to venture out into the sea on the West Bengal coast.

In Odisha, seven districts – namely Jajpur, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Bhadrak, Balasore, Jharsuguda and Deogarh have borne the brunt of the floods, the statement said. A total of 05 people lost their lives and 644 villages and population – 480399 are affected.

Troops of southern command and south western command have been involved in rescue operations in flood-affected areas of Gujarat and parts of Rajasthan. 7 relief camps have been opened and 55 peoples have been accommodated.

The children were killed and four other people were seriously injured when they were struck by lightning in Basithat in North 24 Parganas district on Sunday, police said. 132 boats have been deployed for rescue operations.

Places like Mukundpur, Dum Dum Park and Alipore Bodyguard Lines remain inundated, as people used boats to ferry across.

A depression was formed over Jharkhand and adjoining Gangetic West Bengal.

The MeT department recorded 143.2 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours till 5.30 pm today and has forecast heavy to very heavy rains in Gangetic West Bengal for another two days.