4 Assam dists reel under floods; lightning kills 3 in Odisha

The flood situation in four Assam districts continued to remain critical even as lightning strike killed three persons in Odisha while Monsoon advanced further into Bihar bringing rains and respite.

Rains in different parts of the national capital brought the mercury down by up to six notches below the normal levels but water-logging in several areas inconvenienced people.

The Delhi Traffic Police issued regular advisories to people on water-logging through twitter.

The Safdarjung weather station recorded a rainfall of 20.2 mm till 8.30 am while observatories at Lodhi Road, Palam, Ridge and Ayanagar received 24.2 mm, 3.8 mm, 17.9 mm and 15.7 mm of rains respectively, during the same period.

Flood situation in Assam remained critical in four districts with 38,000 people still affected, even as it showed signs of improvement in some areas.

According to a Assam State Disaster Management Authority report, 1,01,809 people are affected in Lakhimpur and Karimganj districts. It said 100 villages are under water, while 783 hectares of crop land have been damaged.

Authorities are running 16 relief camps and distribution points, where hundreds of people have taken shelter as Jia Bharali and Kopili rivers are flowing above normal levels.

The 300-km J-K national highway was closed for traffic after rains triggered landslides at Bali Nallah and Panthiyal areas. Over 200 vehicles were stranded at various places.

Heavy rains, which have lashed districts in the Jammu region, also caused water-logging and flooding in some areas. Light to moderate rains at several places in Punjab and Haryana kept the maximum temperatures below the normal limits in the two states for the third day on Wednesday. In Odisha, three persons were killed and two others injured when lightning struck them in the Raighar Block of Nabarangpur district. MPOST

Police said the incident occurred when they were working in a paddy field yesterday.

Meanwhile, the monsoon advanced further into Bihar bringing moderate to heavy rainfall in North-East and North- Central parts of the state. However, weather remained mainly dry in rest of the state, a MeT bulletin said.

The weathermen has forecast thunderstorm with rain for tomorrow and the day after.