India floods: More than 100 dead in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh floods

Dubai: More than 100 people have died due to flooding caused by heavy rains in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Indian officials said on Monday.

BBC, quoting local officials on Monday, said that railway traffic, vehicular movement, healthcare services, schools and power supply have been disrupted in both states, officials said.

An Uttar Pradesh government report said 93 people have died since Thursday.

Heavy rains continued in Bihar for the forth consecutive day on Monday, throwing normal life out of gear, officials said.

The death toll in Bihar is 29, according to the state disaster management authority. The impact on its main city, Patna, has been grabbing headlines.

Dramatic images of the impact of flood water on urban life have been coming out of the affected areas.

The Met Office has predicted more rain in the next 24 hours and the state government has issued a ‘red alert’.

Vigorous and relentless monsoon rainfall has put this month to be on course to be the wettest September India has seen in 102 years and lifted the June-September season’s rain to 9% above normal, barely a percentage point short of excess monsoon rainfall

The state government has asked the Indian Air Force for helicopters and machines to pump out water.

"The condition of the water is very bad - the condition of Varanasi is very bad. Drainage arrangements have gone very bad," one local in the northern city of Varanasi told Reuters news.

A video of a man struggling to pull his cycle-rickshaw out of flood water has been circulated widely on social media.

While water levels in Bihar's major rivers including Ganga, Koshi, Gandak, Bagmati, and Mahananda, are on the rise, threatening to breach embankments at many places.

The Centre has already deployed teams of National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force for rescue and relief operations in vulnerable places. According to weather department officials, state capital Patna has received 151mm rain since Saturday — a record in recent years.

Patna is now facing a flood-like situation with water is all around. People have been forced to stay indoors as most of the roads in the narrow lanes were water-logged.

Boats are being deployed in several localities to help people.

“This is the first time I have seen boats plying on the water-logged roads in Patna, it is new for us,” Sanket Jha, a college student of Rajendra Nagar colony, said.

“Entire Patna is water-logged because of choked drainage. It has caused havoc in residential localities and exposed the Patna Municipal Corporation,” Lakhender Mahto, a retired school teacher, told IANS here.

- With inputs from agencies