UP Rains: Mother, son killed as roof collapses in Muzaffarnagar; death toll reaches 5 in 24 hours

The roof caved in because of incessant rains at night while the six members of the family were sleeping, entrapping them all under the debris.

New Delhi: Five people lost lives in the past 24 hours due to rain-related accidents in Uttar Pradesh as heavy rains continued battering the state. A mother and son died in Muzaffarnagar after their building’s roof collapsed on Saturday night due to heavy rains lashing the area since four days. The roof caved in at night while the six members of the family were sleeping, entrapping them all under the debris. Those trapped included husband, wife and their four children. The father and three children are critically injured. Torrential rains have wreaked havoc in many parts of the country and rain-related accidents have claimed 539 lives so far. Till Saturday the number of deaths in UP stood at 58, while the number of injured people was recorded 53. Till Friday, the number of deaths stood at 27. Eleven people lost their lives in Saharanpur, 10 in Meerut, six in Agra, four in Mainpuri, three each in Muzaffarnagar and Kasganj, two each in Amroha, Bareilly, Baghpat and Bulandshahr and one each in Kanpur Dehat, Mathura, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Rae Bareli, Jalaun, Jaunpur, Pratapgarh, Banda, Firozabad, Amethi, Kanpur and Pilibhit districts, they said. Six members of a family, including a baby, were killed and a boy was injured when a portion of their house collapsed due to incessant rains in Saharanpur district, SP (Rural) Vidya Sagar Mishra said. In a similar incident, two people, including a minor girl, were killed on Saturday and 13 others injured when a part of their house collapsed due to heavy rains in Muzaffarnagar. About 23 cm of rainfall was recorded in Meerut, 13 cm each in Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar, 10 cm in Bijnore, 8 cm in Moradabad, 7 cm in Etawah, 6 cm each in Hardoi and Baheri, 5 cm each in Kannauj, Gautam Budhnagar, Pilibhit and Bareilly since Saturday. The weatherman has forecast "heavy to very heavy rains" in Sonebhadra, Mirzapur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Ghazipur, Ballia, Maunath Bhanjan, Azamgarh, Deoria districts, a spokesperson of the Relief Commissioner's Office said. (With PTI inputs)