700 people dead, 1L houses ruined since monsoon onset in 12 States

With no let-up in rain this monsoon season, floods have caused considerable damage in 12 States affecting people in 35,000 villages in 125 districts in the country. The losses too have been considerable as many as 700 people have lost their lives while 300 persons sustained injuries even as one lakh houses got damaged since the beginning of the monsoon, as per official data.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, over four lakh each of milch cattle, goats, pigs and more than 4 crore poultry have been lost in the flood. Besides, 1.40 lakh animals have been hit hard.

The flood has ravaged a whopping 4.79 lakh hectare (11 lakh acre) of agricultural land all over the country. It is estimated that 4 crore poultry has been washed away in the flood as several States are yet to assess the damage. Assam has seen a huge loss to its animal population with more than 1,30,000 animals being affected by floods.

According to flood situation report prepared by the Home Ministry, the worst-affected State in terms of loss of lives has been Maharashtra with 200 deaths, followed by Bihar with 150 and Assam with 130. Gujarat reported 98 deaths while Karnataka reported 78 and Kerala 48. 

The damages could be more as the Home Ministry data has not included incidents occurred in Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and several North-eastern States.

Moreover, heavy losses of fisheries stocks, including ornamental, rearing and nuclear breeding stock of fish and hatcheries have not been reported. The pineapple and banana production zones have suffered a huge loss.

Data from the Central Water Commission (CWC) said one fifth of global flood-related deaths take place in India. In the 64 years from 1953 to 2017, more than one lakh people have died due to floods and damage to crops. Also, infrastructure and housing losses during the period are pegged at `3,65,860 crore, which is 3 per cent of the country’s current Gross Domestic Product (GDP).