Two die in rain-related incidents in Odisha; flood situation better in UP

New Delhi: Incessant rains claimed two more lives in Odisha on Friday while the IMD issued a red alert for extremely heavy rainfall in six districts of Madhya Pradesh.

The flood situation in Uttar Pradesh improved further as the number of affected villages came down even as one more district was declared flood-hit, while Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha toured Srinagar to assess flood preparations following torrential rains.

In Odisha, fear of flood looms large in the Mahanadi river system following heavy rainfall in its upper catchment areas in Chhatisgarh and a rise in the water level of Hirakud Dam even as two more people died in rain-related incidents in the state, raising the death toll to nine. Forty of the 64 sluice gates of the Hirakud Dam, built across the Mahanadi near Sambalpur in Odisha, were opened by the authorities on Friday to discharge excess water.

The flood in the Mahanadi river system is likely to affect coastal districts like Puri, Khurda, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Nayagarh districts. Many other rivers are in spate submerging low-lying areas and snapping road connectivity.

Meanwhile, the intensity of rainfall has subsided considerably in the state since Thursday. Formation of a low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal had triggered heavy downpour in Odisha since Monday.

However, in Madhya Pradesh, a red alert stating extremely heavy rainfall was likely in six districts of the state was issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) amid incessant downpour that continued to lash large parts of the state on Friday.

The red alert was issued for isolated places in Narsinghpur, Chhindwara, Seoni, Balaghat, Betul and Hoshangabad districts.

Apart from this, the IMD issued an orange alert predicting very heavy rainfall, thunderstorm and lightning at isolated places of 10 districts, including Jabalpur and districts of Sagar division.

Moreover, a yellow alert forecast of heavy rainfall, thunderstorm and lightning has been issued for a few places in nine districts including Bhopal and Gwalior. All three alerts are valid till Saturday morning.

The IMD issues colour-coded warnings depending on the intensity of any weather system in ascending order green, yellow, orange and red.

While the flood situation in Uttar Pradesh improved further on Friday, parts of the state received light to moderate rainfall with the IMD forecasting more showers on Saturday.

"There are 18 districts affected by flood. In these districts 830 villages are flood affected and 477 are marooned," Relief Commissiosner, Sanjay Goel told reporters.

Till Thursday, there were 17 flood-hit districts, where 893 villages were affected, of which 562 were marooned.

The relief commissioner said the Sharda river at Palia Kalan in Lakhimpur Kheri, Rapti river in Shravasti and the Saryu Ayodhya and Turtipar in Ballia were flowing above the danger mark.

According to the Met office forecast, thunderstorm accompanied by lightning is very likely at isolated places over eastern part of the state, while rain/thundershower is very likely at many places over western Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha conducted a whirlwind tour of Srinagar city to assess the flood preparations and emergency response mechanism being put in place to deal with any eventuality that may arise out of torrential rains.

During his tour, the Lt governor visited Zero Bridge, Munshi Bagh gauge, flood control rooms of irrigation and flood control near wooden bridge, emergency operation centre at Hari Niwas and took a first-hand appraisal of the situation, he said. Srinagar has been witnessing torrential rains over the past few days.

Some parts of Haryana and Punjab too received rain on Friday as the maximum temperature in both the states hovered around normal limits.

Chandigarh, the common capital of both states, recorded a high of 32 degrees Celsius after light rain lashed the city.