Heavy rains have killed at least 113 people in India’s Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states over the past three days, officials said on Monday, as flood waters swamped a major city, inundated hospital wards and forced the evacuation of inmates from a jail.
Videos shared on social media show submerged roads and heavy flooding at one of the major hospitals in Patna, state capital of Bihar, where patients lay on beds just inches above dirty water. Schools and offices are closed in many areas, and electricity supplies for some residents cut to one hour a day to prevent accidents.
In Uttar Pradesh, 93 people have died due to the incessant rains, which has caused homes to collapse and led to an increase in snake bites. Dozens of people have also died in Bihar, where boats have been deployed to rescue stranded residents.
Experts blame a lack of urban planning and poor drainage systems, which have been unable to cope with sudden and incessant rains over recent days.
Anand Sharma, of the India Meteorological Department, said Bihar had experienced a deficit of monsoon rains until last week, when heavy rains returned levels to normal.
A major cause of the flooding was the lack of natural drainage in affected areas, he explained. “Natural drainage has been destroyed, natural ponds have been destroyed, people have built their houses on the flood plains. These are the problems because once you destroy the natural drainage, water doesn’t find a place to go out. It leads to flooding,” he added.
Ravi Ranjan, who lives in Kankarbagh, in Patna, said he had sent his wife and young children away to protect them from the waist-high flood.
Water had entered the ground-floor flat below him, he said, but he was OK because he lived on the first floor. “Everything is under water, there is only water everywhere, all the cars are submerged, all the schools and offices are closed because of this rain. We can’t go out, we can only see water everywhere,” said Ranjan. Electricity is available for an hour each morning, he added.
The nine-day Hindu festival Navaratri began on Sunday, but in flood-affected areas celebrations have been abandoned. “There is no mood of any festival. The festival season is in no one’s mind,” added Ranjan.
The monsoon season, which runs from June through September, is crucial to replenishing water supplies across India, but hundreds die in the rains every year. More than 350 people have been killed by rain-related causes in India, Nepal and Bangladesh this monsoon season.
