More than 1200 villages in Uttar Pradesh hit by floods, rescue efforts underway

Over five lakh people in 1,243 villages of Uttar Pradesh have been affected with floods, and relief and rescue teams have been deployed to assist the people, officials said here on Wednesday.

In the past 24 hours, an average of 13.1 mm rainfall was recorded in the state which is 154 per cent more than normal.

"Eleven districts including Prayagraj, Chitrakoot, Kaushambi, Pratapgarh, Basti, Gonda, Sultanpur, Shrawasti, Lucknow, Raebareli and Fatehpur received rainfall of over 25 mm or more in the past 24 hours", they said.

A report from the Relief Commissioner office said a "population of 5,46,049 in 1,243 villages in 23 districts is affected by floods".

According to the reports of the Irrigation department, River Ganga is flowing above the danger mark in Budaun, Prayagraj, Mirzapur, Varanasi, Ghazipur and Ballia while Yamuna river is above the red mark in Auraiya, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Banda and Prayagraj.

Similarly, River Betwa is above the danger mark in Hamipur and Sharda river in Pallia Kalan (Kheri) and Quano river in Chandradeep ghat (Gonda), it said.

Relief works have been initiated and 20,768 rations kits and 167213 lunch packets have been distributed among the flood-affected people.

NDRF, SDRF and state PAC have been deployed to help the people and 59 rescue teams pre-deployed in 43 districts.