Heavy rain lashes HP; two Gujarat districts declared disaster-affected

Heavy rains caused widespread damage in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday, ravaging houses and washing away vehicles while two districts in Gujarat were declared 'disaster-affected' areas.

In the national capital, it was a humid day under mainly clear skies with the maximum temperature settling at 34.6 degrees Celsius, a notch above the season's average.

The minimum temperature was recorded at 27.3 degrees Celsius while the humidity level oscillated between 83 and 58 per cent.

In Himachal Pradesh, Dehra Gopipur was the wettest place with 123 mm rain.

Several vehicles were washed away in a heavy downpour at Gazan village, 12 km from Manali. Rains damaged over 70 houses and huts and 29 cowsheds across the state while the Hatkoti- Theog National Highway remained blocked, Deputy Commissioner Rohan Chand Thakur said.

The loss to public property due to damage caused by rains was pegged at Rs 300 crore.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi visited Assam's Lakhimpur district which is the worst-affected in the flood- ravaged state.

He crossed Ranganadi river in a small boat and visited Amtola. The overflowing river had broken an embankment and caused the large-scale destruction of human habitation and farmlands here.

In Gujarat, the state revenue department declared Banaskantha and Patan districts as 'disaster-affected areas' under provisions of 'Gujarat State Disaster Management Act of 2003'.

As many as 218 people died in various rain-related incidents across the state this monsoon season.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has been camping in the flood-affected areas since last five days to monitor the relief operations.

In Rajasthan, light to moderate rainfall occurred at a few places in Kota and Udaipur divisions and at isolated places in Jodhpur and Bharatpur divisions.

Sriganganagar was the hottest place in the state at 37.6 degrees Celsius.

In West Bengal, only Jalpaiguri (15.8mm) recorded substantial rainfall.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Centre of not helping the state government cope with the damage caused by the floods.

A senior official at the state agricultural department said that around 36,110 hectares of land out of the 1,24,144 hectares, where vegetables were harvested, were under water.

In Uttarakhand, heavy rains lashed Dehradun and adjoining areas while the MeT department issued a heavy rain alert for both Kumaon and Garhwal regions of Uttarakhand.

Bihar received rains at most places.

Patna, which witnessed cloudy sky for major part of the day, witnessed light rainfall making it sultry.

Patna received 6.8 mm rainfall, Purnea - 5.2 mm, Gaya - 1.0 mm and Bhagalpur 0.2 mm during the day.

After being battered by heavy rains for several days, most parts of Odisha experienced a comparatively dry day.

While no rainfall was recorded in Bhubaneswar and nearby places, including Cuttack, during the day, Malkangiri registered 22 mm rainfall, the highest in the state for the day, the MeT office said.