Mamata leaves for flood affected Howrah

The flood situation in south Bengal turned grim on Saturday with 1.19 lakh people taking shelter in relief camps in 12 districts of the state even as weatherman forecast more heavy rains in the next two days.

Ms Banerjee, who cut short her London visit and returned here following the cyclone threat, expressed concern over the situation, saying that many parts of the state were waterlogged and crops damaged. Heavy rainfall and thundershowers are lashing West Bengal and Odisha under the impact of deep depression over Bay of Bengal which has intensified into cyclonic storm Komen. She said 966 relief camps had been set up to provide succour to 1.19lakh affected people, besides 124 medical camps.

Other ministers have also been asked to visit flood affected areas to coordinate relief operations.The Met office recorded 133.6 mm of rain till 8.30 am on Saturday and has forecast heavy rain in south Bengal in the next 24 hours. “Did the Centre send any help for Darjeeling disaster (landslides last month)?” an annoyed Banerjee shot back when reporters asked her whether Centre’s assistance was sought.

However, no loss of life has been reported from Kolkata that continues to receive heavy rainfall since Friday. The death cases came from Balasore (2), one each from Mayurbhaj, Jajpur and Keonjhar.

“So far, as many as 39 people have died in the flood situation due to various reasons like electrocution and snake bites”. Meanwhile, many villages in Odisha continued to be submerged under water. As per report of the Engineer-in-Chief, Rural Water Supply & Sanitation (RWSS), 2937 tube wells and 1 piper water supply system have been affected due to flood, he said. Bags of bleaching powder (25kg each) have been provided for disinfection.

“We have kept several thousand water pouches and food packets ready to be distributed”.