With seven more deaths reported on Sunday, the toll in the floods in West Bengal over the past few days has crossed 50.
The latest casualties were reported in North 24 Parganas, Bankura and Murshidabad districts.
In Manipur, at least 20 were killed in a landslide at Zoumoal village in Chandel district, the police said. President Pranab Mukherjee has condoled the deaths in the two States.
Four persons were killed in a lightning strike at Dakshin Akhratola village in the Sandeshkhali area of Bashirhat sub-division in the southern part of West Bengal.
“Eight persons were playing in a field when they were struck by lightning. While four were declared brought dead at the district hospital in Bashirhat, the others are critically injured and undergoing treatment,” Additional Superintendent of Police, North Parganas, Bhaskar Mukherjee said.
In Bankura, a middle-aged man was crushed to death as a wall collapsed on him, the police said.
In Murshidabad, a child was killed in a similar manner in the Farakka police station area. On Saturday, seven persons were killed in Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur, Nadia and Kolkata.
The Damodar Valley Corporation, which operates several power stations on the Damodar river, has started releasing water from two dams, displacing many people from their lands.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held a high-level meeting with State officials here in the afternoon. “Various districts such as Murshidabad, Bardhaman, Howrah, Hooghly and North and South 24 Parganas are affected. We have already deployed disaster management teams there on a war footing,” she told presspersons.
Voicing her concern, she said the situation was deteriorating every day as more areas were getting inundated. She has postponed here trip to the northern districts.
Ms. Banerjee, who earlier said only the State government would distribute relief material, urged other political parties and non-governmental organisations to assist in the relief and rescue operations.
Isolated rain likelyThe regional weather office said Cyclone Komen, which had earlier turned into a deep depression, had weakened into a low-pressure system and had gone to Jharkhand. “We are expecting partly cloudy skies and isolated rain in a few places. But overall there is no forecast of heavy rain,” senior meteorologist D. Pradhan said.
Kolkata received 23.1 mm of rain in the 24 hours to 5.30 p.m. on Sunday.
The depression formed over Jharkhand and adjoining Gangetic West Bengal moved west-southwestwards and was centred on Gangetic West Bengal and adjoining Jharkhand, about 70 km east-northeast of Ranchi this morning.
As a result, the weather may deteriorate over the next few days and rain would occur at most places over Gangetic West Bengal during the next 24 hours, an official release said.
