1,457 villages still affected by floods due to heavy rainfall in Punjab

A total of 1,457 villages in Punjab are still affected by floods caused by the recent heavy downpour in the state, officials said on Saturday.

Currently, 19 districts Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot, Hoshiarpur, Rupnagar, Kapurthala, Patiala, Moga, Ludhiana, SAS Nagar, Jalandhar, Sangrur, SBS Nagar, Fazilka, Gurdaspur, Mansa, Bathinda and Pathankot are flood-affected, they said.

A total of 27,221 people were evacuated from waterlogged areas and taken to safer places in the state, the officials said, adding 170 relief camps are operational in which 4,909 flood-hit people are staying.

According to a report by the revenue department, 40 people lost their lives due to the floods and 15 were injured.

Several districts of Punjab and Haryana were battered by the recent heavy downpour that left normal life paralysed and flooded vast tracts of residential and agricultural land.

Though the floodwaters have receded in many areas of Punjab and Haryana, work on plugging breaches in earthen embankments that have come up along the rivers was going on.

Punjab Water Resources Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Thursday issued instructions to speed up the work on plugging breaches along rivers at different places in the state.