Yamuna, Ghaggar swollen, Haryana's low-lying areas hit; 6 killed

Pradeep Sharma

Chandigarh, July 10

Incessant heavy rain in the past 24 hours has left at least six persons dead and low-lying areas flooded in Haryana.

The north Haryana has been the worst-affected as the Yamuna and the Ghaggar and seasonal rivulets Tangri and Mankanda are almost touching the danger mark. District administrations with the help of the Army, National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) have evacuated hundreds of people from low-lying areas along these rivers. Officials said people living in low-lying areas of Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar and Kurukshetra districts were evacuated.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar cancelled all his pre-scheduled programmes and held an emergency meeting with the Deputy Commissioners to monitor the situation. He directed districts officials to be prepared for any emergency. The water level in the Yamuna was recorded at 3.09 lakh cusecs at the Hathnikund Barrage in Yamunanagar district, posing a threat of ‘high flood’ in areas falling downstream. As a result of the discharge of water from the barrage, over 10,000 acres of agricultural land in Karnal district was submerged, resulting in losses to farmers.

Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala said the situation was ‘worrying’, but the state was prepared for any eventuality. Meanwhile, Khattar spoke to his HP counterpart about the evacuation of 10-12 persons from Haryana stranded in the Kullu-Manali area.

NH-44 temporarily shut

Traffic on the Ambala-Chandigarh NH-44 & Ambala-Ludhiana sections halted as a precautionary step