North-East Faces Flood Fury, North India Left Parched

New Delhi, Jun 3 : The monsoon has wreaked havoc with its presence as well as absence in different parts of the country. While many areas in the North-East have been flooded, leaving thousands of people homeless, there are no signs of rains in North India, which is reeling under the heat wave along with unprecedented power cuts and water crisis.

Floods and landslides have left 77 people dead and six are reportedly missing in Assam and all of its 27 districts are facing monsoon fury. The Kaziranga and other wildlife sanctuaries haven't been spared either.

The Army, the IAF and National Disaster Relief Force personnel are involved in rescue and relief operations.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi have reached Jorhat to oversee relief operations in the rain-hit areas.

Floods have also rendered 75,000 people homeless in Meghalaya. The Brahmaputra and the Kapili rivers are flowing above the danger mark at various places.

Meanwhile, North India is dry and has been awaiting the rains hoping for some relief from the scorching heat. It was a sultry Sunday in Delhi at 43.5 degrees Celsius and temperatures in other states were way above normal too. The minimum in Delhi stayed four notches above normal to settle at 31.4 degrees Celsius, the Met office said. The Bhakra Nangal Dam has critically low level of water in its reservoirs.

Uttar Pradesh continued to bear the brunt of searing heat with Allahabad recording the highest at 45.1 deg C. The temperature was largely above normal in Varanasi, Allahabad, Kanpur, Moradabad, Jhansi, and Agra divisions, however, the day temperatures fell in Faizabad division, according to MeT.

The data released by the weather office shows that rainfall has been 31 per cent deficient so far, 83 per cent of the country, including the granary states of Punjab and Haryana, have received deficient or scanty rainfall.
Heat wave in Rajasthan also showed no signs of abating as temperature in Churu district touched 46 degree Celsius followed by Sriganganagar at 45.8 deg C.

But the Met department insists that rains are on the way and are likely to hit North India and revive in the South by later this week. Met officials also say that the temperatures will drop drastically in the north.

For now, however, North India is struggling to get power and water with no drop of rain. The farmers are now frequently taking their protests to the streets in Kurukshetra where there is an acute power shortage. Dozens of villages there get only just over four hours of power per day.

This year has seen a delayed onset of monsoon rains over Kerala and they have been making a sluggish progress drawing concerns from the farming community.

It still remains to be seen whether the Met department's claims for North India are accurate even as the North-East continues to be flooded.