Chandigarh: Continuous heavy rain in Punjab and the neighboring hill states of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir has triggered one of the worst floods the state has witnessed in the last five decades.
According to official figures, all 23 districts in Punjab have been hit, with 1,400 villages submerged or cut off. In total, 3,54,626 residents have been affected by the calamity.
The worst-hit areas include Gurdaspur, where nearly 1.45 lakh people have been impacted, and Amritsar, with over 1.17 lakh affected. So far, 30 lives have been lost, while 19,597 people have been rescued from marooned localities by emergency teams.
At present, 5,167 individuals are taking refuge in 174 relief camps set up across the state. The floods have also caused widespread agricultural destruction, damaging crops across 1,48,590 hectares (around 3.7 lakh acres) of farmland. Officials said that while losses to livestock, roads, and public infrastructure will be assessed after the water recedes, preliminary reports point to “massive devastation.”
The update was shared by Punjab’s Revenue, Rehabilitation, and Disaster Management Minister, Hardeep Singh Mundian, who emphasized that the government is monitoring the situation around the clock. Relief and rehabilitation work is being carried out in coordination with local administrations, he added.
