30 killed as heavy rains lash parts of Punjab, Himachal, other northern states
PTC News Desk: Heavy rains in north India killed 31 people on Sunday in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. At least eight persons were missing across the four states.
Heavy rains ravaged various regions of Punjab on Sunday, flooding low-lying areas and creating traffic jams.
Several locations in Ludhiana, Amritsar, and Patiala experienced waterlogging. Rupnagar experienced 64 mm of rain, Patiala 62 mm, Ludhiana 57 mm, Mohali 32 mm, Faridkot 6.5 mm, Ferozepur 5 mm, and Pathankot and Amritsar 2 mm each, according to a meteorological department report.
The authorities are on high alert after rainfall caused a dramatic surge in the water levels of the Ghaggar, Markanda, and Tangri rivers that flow through Patiala. Officials reported that the water level in the Markanda River had reached 14 feet, which is 8 feet below the danger mark.
At least nine people were killed in Punjab's Hoshiarpur when their Innova met with a seasonal stream near Jaijon Doaba village on the Himachal Pradesh border. According to locals, the SUV driver underestimated the stream's depth after seeing a bulldozer wade in and cross it. A young person was rescued, while two others were still missing. The dead were among 12 relatives travelling from Himachal's Una district to Hoshiarpur for a wedding.
Meanwhile, landslides and flash floods in Himachal Pradesh killed three girls and left one missing over the last two days. This prompted the shutdown of over 280 highways. According to officials, 458 power and 48 water supply schemes have been disrupted.
Rajasthan, mainly Jaipur and Bharatpur, took the brunt of the monsoon's devastation, with 17 dead and five missing. The five had taken a bath in Jaipur's Kanota Dam.
Seven young men making reels near the Banganga in Bharatpur fell into the river and died when the earth beneath them sank. Three young people perished in a rain-fed pond in Jhunjhunu after getting caught in sludge. In Karauli district, which had flood-like conditions with record rainfall of 380mm on Sunday, a father and his 10-year-old son were killed when a portion of a neighbour's house collapsed on their home. Five people died in Jodhpur, including a 17-year-old who drowned in Koilana lake while on a hike.
In Uttar Pradesh's Jalaun, a woman and her seven-year-old son were killed when their house's roof collapsed in the district's Koch area after heavy rain.
- PTC NEWS
