NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Rediff Shopping

Shop & gift from thousands of products!   Books     Music       Apparel   Jewellery   Flowers   More..      Safe Shopping

River changes course, washes away many UP villages

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

Several villages in Bahraich district of eastern Uttar Pradesh have been washed away following a change in the course of the Ghaghra river.

The release of water from the river's catchment area in neighbouring Nepal has further added to the misery of the people, inundating hundreds of villages as well as roads and even highways. Over 100,000 people are estimated to have been rendered homeless. The death toll has risen to 250.

Even though there has been some respite from the incessant rains for nearly 60 hours till Sunday, large parts of Bahraich continued to reel under the overflowing waters of Ghaghra and Saryu rivers. The two rivers run almost parallel along the district until Saryu merges with the Ghaghra a few kilometres ahead.

According to unofficial reports, a number of people are missing, while a large number of houses have been swept away. A school in Mathura-ka-Purwa village, 50 km from Bahraich city was washed away.

The district administration is finding it difficult to cope up with the increasing number of flood victims, many of whom are perched on elevated land. Thousands of people were camping along the highways. According to eyewitnesses, some villages neighbouring Bahraich town were submerged in seven to eight feet of water.

District Magistrate Bihari Lal told rediff.com over telephone, "We are tackling the problem on a war footing and the entire district machinery has been pressed into service to ensure prompt relief. We have hired a large number of boats to evacuate marooned villagers."

He said the respite from the downpour had enabled repair of the breaches on the Lucknow-Bahraich and Bahraich-Nepal highways.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report