More rains in Raj; 12 die in Bengal

More rains battered Rajasthan, which is battling a deluge in four districts, even as 12 people lost their lives today in incidents of lightning, drowning and wall collapse in West Bengal where the flood situation remained grim.
Authorities in Odisha are fearing floods as excess water is being released from the Rengali Dam.
The Water Resources Ministry has warned that water levels in rivers in east Madhya Pradesh, north Chhattisgarh and east Rajasthan may rise rapidly due to "heavy to very heavy" and "extremely heavy" rain today and tomorrow.
Rivers may also rise in parts of west Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, north Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat due to "heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places", it said.

"Due to this, rivers in Sone basin, Southern Ganga tributaries between Allahabad and Ballia, basins of Ken, Betwa, Chambal, Mahi, Sabarmati and Narmada are likely to rise rapidly," the ministry said in a statement.
The rainfall is likely to decrease from Sunday onwards, it added.

Meanwhile, over 1,050 people have been rescued from Jalore, Pali, Barmer and Rajsamand districts of Rajasthan, where heavy rains have triggered floods.
Teams of the Army, NDRF, SDRF, CRPF, two Airforce helicopters and home guards are engaged in the relief and rescue work in affected areas.
More than 525 people from these districts have been shifted to 20 special relief camps, a public relations officer of the state government said.

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is monitoring the rescue and relief operations, the official said.
More rains lashed the state. Dug recorded 19 cm of rainfall, Gangdhar and Chabra 13 cm, Bakani 11 cm, Aklera 10 cm of rainfall, Bhinmal 13 cm and Raniwada 10 cm.
Swirling waters of the Subarnarekha river inundated over 80 villages in Odisha's Balasore district. The government has asked authorities to remain alert.
The flood situation, however, improved in Bhadrak, Sundergarh and Jajpur districts after the water level of the Baitarani river receded.
While 63 villages have been inundated in Bhograi block, 20 villages of Balaipal block were under water in Balasore district. The flood waters are flowing 1.5 metre above the roads.

The Special Relief Commissioner's (SRC) office, however, was fearing floods in two blocks each of Jajpur and Kendrapara districts with the authorities opening 10 gates of the Rengali reservoir.
Special Relief Commissioner B P Sethi said four people have so far lost their lives in the Odisha floods.
Meanwhile, a seven-member central team said floods in Assam have caused "very profound and large-scale" damage.
The team is in Assam since Tuesday to carry out an on- the-spot assessment of the damage caused.
It visited Biswanath, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Barpeta, Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts and interacted with the affected people and administration officials to ascertain the intensity of the damage caused.

Also, the Centre announced ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of those killed in flood-related cases in Assam this year.
As many as 79 people lost their lives in the devastating floods, eight of them in Guwahati.
The prime minister also announced compensation of Rs 50,000 each to the people injured in the floods, an official release said here.
The flood situation in western districts of West Bengal remained grim. The West Midnapore district administration has sought the help of the Indian Air Force for rescue operations.
An Indian Air Force Mi17 V5 helicopter has been sent from the Barrackpore air force station to rescue the stranded civilians, a Defence spokesperson said.

At least 16 people have lost their lives while nearly 20 lakh are affected in over 160 villages, inundated due to heavy rains and the water released by Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC).
The weatherman has warned of very heavy rain at isolated places over west Rajasthan tomorrow.
Heavy rain is very likely over Assam and Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, east Rajasthan and Gujarat, the MeT office said.