Toll in Punjab floods rises to 52, minister says crops on 1.91 lakh hectares damaged

Chandigarh, Sep 9 (PTI) The toll in the devastating floods in Punjab went up to 52 with one more death in the last 24 hours, officials said on Tuesday.

Punjab Revenue Minister Hardeep Singh Mundian said at present 2,097 villages across 22 districts have been affected because of floods and crops on 1.91 lakh hectares have been damaged.

Another person died due to the floods in Ludhiana on Tuesday, taking the overall toll to 52 across 15 districts. Three people continue to remain missing in Pathankot.

On rescue operations, Mundian said 191 more people were evacuated within the last 24 hours, raising the total to 23,206.

The highest evacuations so far have been reported in Gurdaspur (5,581), Fazilka (4,254), Ferozepur (4,012), Amritsar (3,260), Hoshiarpur (1,616), Kapurthala (1,428) and Pathankot (1,139). Evacuations have also been carried out in Barnala (738), Jalandhar (511), Mansa (178), Moga (155), Rupnagar (313) and Tarn Taran (21).

The minister informed that 119 relief camps are presently operational in the state, sheltering 5,521 people. Mundian highlighted that 1,91,926.45 hectares across 18 districts of crop area were damaged, which is up from around 1.84 lakh hectares reported a day earlier.

Gurdaspur remains the worst affected with 40,169 hectares, followed by Amritsar (27,154 hectares), Fazilka (19,037 hectares), Kapurthala (17,574 hectares), Patiala (17,404 hectares), Ferozepur (17,257 hectares), Tarn Taran (12,828 hectares), Mansa (12,207 hectares), Hoshiarpur (8322 hectares), among other districts.

He said that a total of 2,097 villages across 22 districts have been impacted by the floods till September 9.

The worst-hit districts in terms of affected villages include Gurdaspur with 329 villages, Amritsar with 196, Hoshiarpur with 208, Kapurthala with 145, Jalandhar with 93, Ludhiana and Fazilka with 86 each and Ferozepur with 108.

The population affected across the state, the revenue minister said, has reached 3,88,092 people.

Punjab is currently facing one of its worst flood disasters in decades.

The floods are a result of swollen rivers -- Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi and seasonal rivulets caused by heavy rainfall in their catchment areas in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.

Besides, heavy rains in recent days in Punjab also aggravated the flooding situation. PTI CHS SKY SKY