Several teams of the National Disaster Response Force, Army and the BSF have been pressed into service for rescue operations in flood-hit areas of Punjab’s Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur and Rupnagar districts.
The Bhakra dam on the Sutlej river and the Pong dam on the Beas river — both in Himachal Pradesh — are brimming after heavy rain in their respective catchment areas.
Several people in low-lying regions and villages on the banks of the rivers in Punjab were evacuated to safety even as district administrations appealed to people in the flood-hit areas to move to safer locations.
Against Wednesday’s figure of 45, flood waters on Thursday entered 114 villages in Punjab. Officials fear the worst may come in a day as heavy rain is expected in Himachal Pradesh. Another worry was that the VIP visits are hampering rescue operations, say officials.
The water level in the Beas and the Sutlej rivers rose following the release of water from the dams’ reservoirs.
