Floods in Ferozepur, crops damaged

CHANDIGARH - Several acres of agricultural land were inundated and over 75 villages were submerged in flood water in Punjab’s Ferozepur district Saturday, an official said.

Over 150 houses have been damaged and hundreds of residents have been evacuated to safer places. District administration and the local police had launched a rescue operation on war-footing in this border district.

“Flood situation is still problematic in various parts of Ferozepur. We are taking all safety measures and water levels have also started receding in most parts of the district. We expect the situation to normalize by Sunday,” K.K. Yadav, Ferozepur deputy commissioner, told IANS.

“We have arrangements of packed water and food that we are supplying to the flood victims. Floods have damaged paddy crop on thousands of acres but the actual loss will be evaluated once the situation is totally under control,” Yadav added.

During the past few days, various parts of Ferozepur, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Moga districts were lashed by heavy rains, causing overflowing in the drains that led to floods. However, rains have subdued since Friday morning.

“We had only light spells of rainfall in isolated parts of Punjab. Overcast conditions are now prevailing in various parts of the state and we are expecting moderate to heavy rainfall till Saturday night,” a Met official said.

“We are also expecting isolated spells of light rain in Chandigarh. This rainfall will make the environment pleasant and also increase the humidity level in the atmosphere,” he added.

Nearly a dozen districts of Punjab and Haryana were affected by floods in the last few days. At least 51 people were killed due to floods in these two states.