Incessant rainfall and rain-related incidents in Uttar Pradesh have claimed 19 lives in the past 24 hours, said the state relief commissioner's office on Monday. The office added that four of the 19 deaths were due to lightning while two were due to drowning. Four deaths were reported from the Hardoi region, three from Barabanki, two each from Pratapgarh and Kannauj, and one each from Amethi, Deoria, Jalaun, Kanpur, Unnao, Sambhal, Rampur and Muzaffarnagar districts, reported news agency PTI.
Incessant rains since Sunday have severely impacted the normal lives in Uttar Pradesh, particularly in the central part of the state.
In 22 districts of the state, rainfall of 40 mm plus has been recorded in the last 24 hours including Moradabad, Sambhal, Kannauj, Rampur, Hathras, Barabanki, Kasganj, Bijnor, Amroha, Bahraich, Lucknow, Badaun, Mainpuri, Hardoi, Firozabad, Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Kanpur, Sitapur Farrukhabad, Lakhimpur Kheri and Fatehpur, according to PTI.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has instructed the officials of the affected districts to carry out relief works with full promptness, PTI reported citing an official spokesperson.
The Chief Minister has instructed the officials to visit the said areas and keep an eye on the relief work. He has also instructed them to immediately distribute the permissible relief amount to the people affected by the disaster, the spokesperson added.
CM Adityanath has further directed that in cases of water logging, effective arrangements should be made for proper drainage and the water level of rivers should be monitored continuously. The spokesperson said that the damage caused to crops will be assessed and the report will be made available to the government so that it could provide compensation amount to the affected farmers as per rules.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) department forecast, heavy rains are expected to continue in the eastern region till September 14 whereas light rains are expected to continue till September 17.
The western region of the state is also expected to witness rainfall till September 17 though an alert has been issued for lightning over the state till September 15, PTI reported.