Heavy rain and floods in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have left as many as 115 dead over the past two months, official reports said.
While the nature's fury was reported to have taken a 77 lives in UP, and 38 in Uttarakhand.
Several parts of Uttarakhand were cut off on account of landslides and deep breaches on the roads. A large number of pilgrims to the popular religious destinations of Badrinath, Kedarnath and Gangotri were reported stranded at different places particularly over the past three days.
The only pilgrimage that remained unaffected was Yamunotri, claimed an official spokesman.
While rains have been lashing large parts of the two states ever since July, bulk of the casualties have taken place over the past 10 days, since the downpour turned incessant and heavy.
According to UP relief commissioner K K Sinha, "Seventy-seven persons have been killed since July on account of rain and floods that led to house collapse, falling of trees and other rain related disasters."
He said, "at least 46 of the state's 81 districts received above average rainfall this monsoon. However 14 districts were affected by the floods largely on account of the rising Nepal-fed Ghagra river, that has devastated parts of Eastern UP."
According to official reports, flood waters had already inundated 316 villages, where more than 350,000 people were facing the direct brunt on that account.
A report from the Disaster Management Department in Dehradun confirmed 38 deaths because of flood and rain in major parts of Uttarakhand, where heavy showers have caused several landslides, following which several major highways have suffered major breaches.
According to an official spokesman of the department, "More than hundred roads including the village link roads were closed to all vehicular movement."
