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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, July 19: Altogether 19 people were killed in heavy rains and floods in various parts of the country with the situation in flood-hit Bihar and Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka worsening since last evening.
Floods have claimed 106 lives in Bihar so far, with 10 more deaths reported from Darbhanga.
Ten people were killed when a boat capsized in swirling waters in flood-hit Bihar, four died in heavy rains in Gujarat, four others in house collapses in West Bengal and a woman in the heavy downpour in Jammu, reports reaching here said today.
Official sources said 10 people were drowned when a country boat capsized in a rivulet near Bishunpur village in the worst-hit Darbhanga district, where the Bagmati and Kamala Balan rivers crossed the danger level at several places.
Bagmati was flowing two metres above the danger mark at Hayaghat, they said.Fresh areas were inundated under Bahadurpur block in Darbhanga as the Kamala Balan river breached its embankment.
Swirling waters werefast eroding soils on the eastern Kosi embankment, threatening to aggravate the situation in Supaul, Khagaria and Katihar districts, the sources said.
According to the Central Water Commission report, all major rivers including Bagmati, Burhi Gandak, Kosi, Mahananda and Adhwara were rising and crossed the danger mark at various places along their course.
Burhi Gandak crossed the red mark at Rosera by six cm while the Adhwara group of rivers overflowed at Ekmighat and Kamtaul by 133 cm and 26 cm respectively.
State Relief and Rehabilitation Department sources said about 36 lakh people spread over 1,958 villages in 21 districts continue to reel under floods that caused damaged to property including standing crops worth over Rs 5 crore.
One motorised boat and 1,351 local boats were evacuating people to safer places and providing relief. Altogether 280 assistance booths, 457 health and 155 veterinary centres continue to function round the clock to provide succour to the affected people.
About 102quintals of foodgrains, 427.81 quintals of food packets, 1,042 litres of kerosene and 7,409 m of polythene sheets have so far been distributed among the flood-hit people, the sources said.
Four people died in heavy rains in Gujarat and a woman was killed in a house collapse due to heavy downpour in Jammu, official sources said today.
Heavy rains lashed Gujarat, claiming two lives in Navsari, and one each in Junagadh and Anand districts during the period, taking the toll in the recent monsoons to 23. Gandhinagar recorded 176 mm rainfall.
Heavy downpour in the Jammu region led to house collapses in Poonch and Doda districts, killing a woman and injuring two persons last night. In flood-hit Karnataka, the situation was grim in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts while flood waters were receding in other areas.
Several villages remained innundated in the two districts lashed by heavy rains for three consecutive days.
A report from Mysore said water levels in Krishnaraja Sagar and Kapila reservoirs weresteadily rising following heavy rains in catchment areas of Cauvery in Kodagu district of Karnataka and Wynad district of Kerala.
Kundapur taluka in Udupi district was the worst-affected as several villages were still inundated. People living in low-lying areas had been shifted to safer places and officials camping in Kundapur were assessing the damage.
The famous temple town of Subrahmanya in Dakshina Kannada district continues to be marooned for the third day today with the bridge across the Kumaradhara river submerged in flood waters, disrupting traffic.
At Uppur in Udupi taluka, the situation remained grim today and the ferry service was pressed into action for transporting people as several houses and paddy fields were inundated.
