130 Punjab villages hit by flood, 9,000 shifted, Gurdaspur bears brunt

130 Punjab villages hit by flood, 9,000 shifted, Gurdaspur bears brunt
Chandigarh: While Punjab has received just 47.69 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours, over 44,000 people from 130 villages, including 52 in Gurdaspur, have been affected by the release of excess water from the Pong and Bhakra dams for the second day today. Two children are reported to have drowned at Jhanda Lubana village of Gurdaspur.

With the help of the National Disaster Response Force, Army and the BSF, the civil and police administration of the state has evacuated 9,015 persons to safety from the flood-hit villages.

Of them, 6,000 persons have been evacuated from Gurdaspur and 2,150 from Hoshiarpur — the districts affected the most by flooding. Most of these persons have been put up in 31 relief camps set up today.

Many roads in Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Ropar and Kapurthala districts have also been damaged, affecting the movement of vehicular traffic.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today toured the flood-affected areas of Hoshiarpur and promised all possible help to the affected people. He said the government was in touch with the Himachal Pradesh Government and the Bhakra Beas Management Board to assess the situation.

While 80,200 cusecs of water was released from the Pong dam, leading to flooding in Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala districts, 74,400 cusecs was released from Bhakra dam, causing inundation in 22 villages of Ropar. Around 2.15 lakh cusecs of water is also being released from Harike headworks towards Pakistan.

The overflowing rivers, carrying water from neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, are giving sleepless nights to residents of villages located along the course of the Beas, Sutlej and Ghaggar.

At Gidderpindi in Jalandhar, flow of water in the Sutlej rose to 1.28 lakh cusecs and 2.35 lakh cusecs at Harike. Similarly, the flow of Beas water was recorded at 2,41,500 cusecs at Passi (Hoshiarpur) and 2,34,000 cusecs at Dhilwan (Kapurthala).