With the rising levels of all major rivers in Uttar Pradesh where 15 districts were affected by floods, the state government on Thursday called out the army to assist civil authorities in tackling the flood situation in Barabanki district, about 30 km from Lucknow.
"Rain and floods have already taken 95 lives in the state," Relief Commissioner Umesh Sinha told rediff.com.
"These included 53 who had drowned in different incidents over the past few days; the rest were victims of house collapse and other calamities on account of rain, thunder and lightning," he added.
As many as 2,187 villages in eastern Uttar Pradesh are affected by the flood waters of the Ghagra, Rapti, Saryu and Rohin rivers. Of these, 1,091 villages are either marooned or completely inundated.
Almost 2 million people are affected by the devastating floods that have engulfed almost 3.2 lakh hectares of sown agricultural land.
Alarmed by the situation, Chief Minister Mayawati undertook an aerial survey of the flood affected areas and visited the worst-affected districts of Kushnagar , Maharajganj, Bahraich and Gonda.