Incessant rains continued for the second day on Wednesday in most parts of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh disrupting normal life even as authorities remained on high alert to tackle flood-like situation in several areas, especially parts of Ambala, Kurukshetra, Ludhiana and Patiala.
The rail and road traffic in the region remained partially affected in view of heavy downpour flooding rail tracks and roads, hitting normal life badly, officials said.
Besides, power supply had also been snapped at various places in the region in view of uprooting of trees and submerging of grid-stations.
Even mobile service had been partially affected as towers remained submerged under deep waters.
Several villages of Kurukshetra district have been marooned in deep waters due to a 100-feet breach in Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal at Gulabgarh village.
Reports of several villages and towns remaining submerged in deep waters have been received from Ambala, Kuruskhetra, Patiala, Ludhiana and Sangrur district.
The National Disaster Authority of India has sent a 150-member team comprising doctors along with 10 boats to flood-affected areas of Kurukshetra district, officials said.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had been conducting an aerial survey of flood-affected areas in Ambala and Kurukshetra districts, officials said.
Hooda has directed the authorities to remain vigilant and provide necessary services to the affected people at the earliest, they said.
Hooda, after visiting the flood-affected areas, said that special revenue assessment would be conducted to assess damage caused due to floods and all possible assistance would be provided to the affected people.
On the other hand, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal issued strict instructions to get the illegal constructions, unauthorised bandhs and encroachments blocking the natural flow of rain water removed within one month.
Reviewing the flood protection measures, he asked the Chief Secretary to issue strict instructions to all Deputy Commissioners to get the rivulets, drains cleared of all encroachments within next 30 days without any failure.
Asking Financial Commissioner Revenue Romila Dubey to immediately release Rs 10 crore from Calamity Relief Fund for flood protection and relief measures, he said that a round-the-clock control room with proper communication network should be activated in all the districts.
While, Irrigation Financial Commissioner S S Dhillon said that the water of SYL canal was being diverted to Narwana canal.
He said that the breach at SYL canal would be plugged after flow of water was further reduced from the canal.
Haryana police chief R S Dalal said that swimmers of police and other personnel have been deployed in numbers to assist the affected people.
Pumps are being used to drain out water from flooded areas, besides columns of Army personnel and district administration are working to plug breach in SYL at Kurkshetra.
Most of the rivers, including seasonal Tangri, Ghaggar, Beng, are flowing in spate in the region putting authorities and people on toes.
Haryana's PWD Engineer-in-Chief Mahesh Kumar said that all national and state highways in the state are functional and that once the rain stops these will be repaired immediately.
Meanwhile, around 25 trains to criss-cross from the region have been cancelled due to heavy down pour. Among these included Amritsar-Delhi Shatabdi, Amrtisar-Haridwar Janshatabdi, Amritsar-Delhi inter-city, Bhiwani-Delhi-Kalka Ekta express, Mumbai-Amritsar Golden temple express, Jammu-Rishikesh Hemkund express, Himalayan queen, Haridwar-Bathinda-Ganganagar express, Jammu mail, Jalandhar-New Delhi inter city express, New Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi express, Kalka-Barmer express, New Delhi-Amritsar Shan e Punjab express, New Delhi-Jammu Tawi special, Amritsar-Dehradun express, Chandigarh-Lucknow express, New Delhi-Una Himachal express.
Meanwhile, Ambala received 196.7 mm of rainfall, followed by 60.6 mm at Ludhiana, 59.2 mm at Nangal Dam, 14.8 mm at Bhiwani, 30 mm at Panchkula, 44 mm at Kurukshetra, 3 mm at Karnal and 11.2 mm at Patiala.
Photograph: Mukesh Gupta/Reuters
