Floods bring further misery for Bengal residents amid pandemic

As flood situation worsens in West Bengal and the heavy rainfall continues, people wade through flood-hit Amta in Howrah. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

More than 20 people have died and over three lakh were displaced due to incessant rain over the past few days, followed by release of water from Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) dams flooding large parts of six Bengal districts. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

The DVC has released 5.43 lakh cusecs of water between Saturday and Tuesday evening. On Saturday, the central government-run enterprise said the discharge of water was “unavoidable” because the storage facilities at the Panchet and Maithon dams had reached their capacities following heavy inflow of water from upstream Jharkhand. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

More than three lakh people have been rendered homeless in at least six districts of the state following incessant rainfall in the past few days. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

Mamata Banerjee blamed the DVC for being responsible for the floods in Bengal. In this pic, people are seen transporting cooked food to serve amongst the affected in flood-hit Amta. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

Newly married couple take a boat ride to reach their home in flood-hit Amta. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

“Flood-like situations have occurred in Howrah, Hooghly, Purba Bardhaman and Paschim Medinipur. Several houses have got submerged,” said a government official, adding that National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams had been deployed in several areas. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

NDRF team at flood-hit Amta in Howrah district. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)