774 dead in monsoon rains, floods in seven states: Centre

Heavy rain triggered floods situation in seven states and claimed 774 lives so far this monsoon season, the Home Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

According to the Home Ministry’s National Emergency Response Centre (NERC), Kerala is the worst affected state with 187 rain-related casualties so far, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 171, West Bengal with 170 deaths and 139 deaths in Maharashtra.

In Gujarat, over 52 people lost their lives while 45 died in Assam and eight in Nagaland, according to data issued by MHA’s National Emergency Response Centre.

A total of 27 people were reported missing, with 22 in Kerala and five in West Bengal, the NERC said.

Altogether, 245 people were injured in rain-related incidents in the flood-hit states, according to the NERC data.

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As many as 26 districts in Maharashtra are severely hit by the monsoon rains this year, as reported by NERC.

Other affected areas across the country are 23 districts in Assam, 22 in West Bengal, 14 in Kerala, 12 in Uttar Pradesh, 11 Nagaland and 10 in Gujarat, the NERC said.

Though the flood situation in Assam has considerably improved, 11.45 lakh people were affected by the floodwaters and crop areas of 27,552 hectres of land have been submerged, the NERC said.

As per the latest officials’ figures, over 60,000 people in Kerala bore the brunt of the fresh flash floods and landslides and the affected people have been evacuated to various relief camps across 14 districts in the state.

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Altogether, 15 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are engaged in rescue and relief operations in Assam, whereas eight NDRF teams have been deployed in Uttar Pradesh, eight in West Bengal, seven in Gujarat, four each in Kerala and Maharashtra and one in Nagaland, the NERC said.

(With inputs from agencies)