On August 12, 2021, after strong monsoon rains caused flooding of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, residents took a boat to the flooded communities in the Kareli Gaus Nagar area of Allahabad.
- Thousands of stranded Indians were rescued from flooded villages along the Ganges River after the water level of the Ganges exceeded the dangerous water level.
- The waterways in Allahabad are two meters above normal.
- The floods prompted the authorities to launch large-scale rescue operations, and an estimated 4,500 people were rescued in and outside the city.
Thousands of trapped Indians were rescued from flooded villages along the Ganges River on Thursday after the Ganges River exceeded dangerous water levels in the country’s most populous state.
Allahabad’s waterways were two meters above normal levels. After several days of heavy rains, the city experienced its worst flooding in decades.
According to reports, more than 600 villages in Uttar Pradesh have been cut off by rising water levels, prompting the authorities to launch large-scale rescue operations.
Allahabad Magistrate Singh told AFP that 225 boats have been sent to help people trapped on roofs and high floors of houses.
He estimated that 4,500 people were rescued in the city and surrounding areas.
About 100 kilometers downstream of the holy city of Varanasi, the Ghats-the ritual jetty used for Hindu cremation on the river-was flooded and closed.
Varanasi Magistrate Sanjay Kumar (Sanjay Kumar) said that the river was one metre above the danger mark in the area and thousands of people had been rescued.
The Ghats are usually open 24 hours a day, handling hundreds of cremations every day.
VN Mishra, the head of the Sankat Mochan Temple in Varanasi, said that this is a “desperate” situation. People have instead lit a cremation pyre for the dead away from the river, “even if it means cremation in the back alleys and roofs”.
The Uttar Pradesh government stated that it has set up 940 flood shelters for the homeless, where food rations are distributed.
Since June, the monsoon season in India has caused hundreds of deaths, and the states of Maharashtra and West Bengal have been severely affected.
