Bihar floods claim six more; lightning kills four in Assam

New Delhi, Aug 30 (PTI) With six more deaths reported inBihar today, the flood toll in the state this monsoon rose to165, while four perished in lightning strike in Assam. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh braces up to tackle post-floodwater-borne diseases as the Ganga waters recede. In Bihar, Bhojpur district witnessed six more flood-related deaths. In the swollen Ganga in the state, waters havestarted receding, but 37.53 lakh people in 12 districts arestill affected by the floods. The receding trend was witnessed at Gandhi Ghat and DighaGhat, thus reducing the threat of flood waters entering intoPatna town. The river continues to flow above the danger markat seven places in four districts. As many as 644 relief camps are being run in the flood-hit areas in which 3.92 lakh people have taken shelter. Atotal of 185 camps are being operated for cattle while thenumber of animal deaths has reached to 59 in the floods. The assessment of crop damage is also being made. Meanwhile, light to moderate rainfall occurred at a fewplaces in north-central and north-eastern parts but weatherremained mainly dry in southeast parts of the state. Rains lashed the national capital for the secondconsecutive day resulting in water-logging and slow vehicularmovement. The Safdarjung observatory received 21 mm rainfall, whilethe reading at Palam observatory was 16.2 mm. The relativehumidity levels oscillated between 97 and 69 per cent. In northeastern state of Assam, four fishermen werekilled and three others critically injured in lightning strikein Morigaon district. In Uttar Pradesh, where a total of 8.7 lakh people in 987villages in Varanasi, Allahabad, Ghazipur and Ballia, areaffected due to flood, the state government has alerted healthdepartment to be ready for post-flood water-borne diseases. According to Central Water Commission, water in Ganga isreceding everywhere in the state but the river is stillflowing above danger mark in Ballia, while Sharda is above redmark at Palliakalan (Kheri). The state witnessed light to moderate rain at isolatedplaces over East and few places over West UP. In West Bengal while almost all parts of the stateremained dry, southern Kolkata received heavy showers,recording 78.6 mm rainfall at Alipore Met station in 24 hourssince yesterday morning. Moderate to heavy rains occurred in parts of Rajasthanwhere Jalore recorded maximum of 11 cm precipitation followedby Bhadra in Hanumangarh where 7 cm rainfall was recorded tillthis morning since yesterday. PTI TEAM TIR ZMNTIR