Nine people airlifted from roof of house in flood-hit Karnal village

Despite repeated attempts, they could not come out of the inundated house and climbed atop the temporary shed constructed on their fields.

Normal life was put out of gear in at least 25 villages of Karnal, Yamunanagar and Panipat districts as the water of overflowing Yamuna entered the low-lying areas.

In Nanupura village located on the Haryana-UP border, nine people, including six children and two women, were airlifted from the roof of a house. (HT photo)

Standing crops on thousands of acres were submerged and hundreds of families remained stranded as Karnal villages, including Nagla, Nagli, Sayed Chhapra, Khukhni, Dera Halwana, Nabiabad and Japti Chhapra, remained out of bounds in terms of road connectivity.

In Nanupura village located on the Haryana-UP border, nine people, including six children and two women, were airlifted from the roof of a house.

Despite repeated attempts, they could not come out of the inundated house and climbed atop the temporary shed constructed on their fields. “We called an airforce helicopter and they were airlifted around 2.30am on Monday. They all are safe,” said Karnal superintendent of police (SP) Surender Singh Bhoria.

The rescued persons belong to Garhpur Tapu village of Karnal's Indri, who had taken land on rent in Nanupura.

Indri tehsildar Darpan Kamboj said, “They (flood victims) called on helpline numbers following which, the administration swung into action and tried to evacuate them with the help of a boat. But it was not possible to rescue them through a boat as most of them were children, so we called a helicopter.”

In Dabkoli Khurd village, some labourers stranded at a farm house were rescued with the help of boats by an NDRF team.

Low-lying areas of Panipat were also hit by floodwater as the water level crossed the danger mark of 230m. Panipat deputy commissioner Sumedha Kataria said, “Water is crossing danger mark, but no evacuation was necessitated. We are keeping a close vigil on the situation.”

She said water level was likely to rise by the evening, but there was no need to panic as the administration was fully prepared to deal with any situation.

Evacuation in Sonepat

A high alert was sounded in 12 villages of Sonepat as 8.28 lakh cusec water released from Yamunanagar barrage reached the district in the evening. The administration has evacuated people from three villages — Nangla, Kheri Asadpur and Tonki — and alerted 12 more villages about the release of excess water.

Kanwarpal , a resident of Tonki, said this was a routine issue and accused the government of neither releasing compensation nor initiating any rescue operation. Roshni Devi of Kheri Asadpur village said she, along with her family, has taken shelter at a temple in Manoli village.

The crops on about 100 acres were also submerged near Sonepat. Deputy commissioner Anshaj Singh said they were monitoring the situation and people in few villages were evacuated following the alert. “Situation is under control and we are taking help of police to carry out rescue work,” he added.