Ganga above danger mark in Bihar, West Bengal and UP

New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) The Ganga today crossed the dangermark in West Bengal, Bihar and neighbouring districts of UttarPradesh where Yamuna river is also in spate, while heavyrainfall has created a flood-like situation in some parts ofRajasthan where six persons have died so far. However, the weather was hot and dry in the nationalcapital and other northern states of Punjab and Haryana. In UP, Ganga is flowing above the danger mark at Fafamau(Allahabad), Mirzapur, Varanasi, Ghazipur and Ballia whileYamuna is flowing above the red mark at Chillaghat (Banda) andNaini (Allahabad) and Mohna (Jalaun). Similarly, Sharda river is flowing above the danger markat Palliakalan (Kheri). In western, the weather was dry evenas light to moderate rains occurred at isolated places. In Bihar, National and State Disaster Response Force havebeen deployed and Army has been put on alert as the risingwater level of Ganga has created flood like situation in allthe districts situated along the banks of the river. Ganga and six other rivers were flowing above dangermark in Patna, Bhagalpur, Khagaria, Katihar, Siwan, Bhojpur,Buxar and Hajipur districts, a disaster management departmentstatement said. Vast areas in several villages of Malda district in WestBengal have submerged, affecting a population of nearly20,000, even as heavy to very heavy rain in districts ofsouthern parts and in the Sub-Himalayan region of arepredicted for tomorrow, triggered by a low pressure. Additional District Magistrate, Malda, Kanchan Chowdhurysaid the rise in the water level of the river was due to therelease of 10 lakh cusecs of water from the Sone dam in UttarPradesh. Heavy to extremely heavy rainfall and created flood likesituation in Rajasthan with Baran, Pratapgarh, Chittogarh andJhalawar districts as the worst affected. The water level inChambal river in Dholpur crossed the danger mark today. Six persons of a family died when a portion of their housecollapsed in Baran district of Rajasthan yesterday. A total of 33 people were airlifted by Air Force todayfrom two locations in Pratapgarh district while 24 others wereairlifted from Baran yesterday. Several others are also stranded and rescue operations areon. "Three persons are trapped at an island in Parvati river.They had gone for fishing in the river but suddenly the waterlevel in the river rose. Efforts are on to rescue them," BaranCollector SP Singh said. In Delhi, it was a sultry Sunday with the mercury settlingat 35.4 degrees Celsius, a notch above the normal for thistime of the season. The weatherman has predicted generally cloudy sky fortomorrow and maximum and minimum temperatures of around 36and 26 degrees Celsius respectively. Meanwhile, Punjab and Haryana braved a hot day today astemperatures stayed above normal level in various parts of thetwo states. The maximum temperature in Chandigarh was recordedas 35.5 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal. However, the MeT Department has forecast rain orthundershowers at isolated places in the two states. PTI TEAMASV RTASV