Monsoon rains: Army deployed in these Punjab district as flood worsens; Haryana CM calls emergency meeting. Updates here

livemint.com:

Heavy monsoon rains in several parts of Punjab and Haryana on Sunday inundated low-lying areas, prompting authorities to swing into action in the worst-hit places. Authorities ordered the closure of schools in some affected areas, while the Army was put on alert as torrential rains battered several parts of Punjab. The Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar has also cancelled all his pre-scheduled programmes and called an emergency meeting at the Civil Secretariat to review the situation in the state due to rainfall across the state.

IMD on Monday said moderate rains are likely to occur in various parts of Haryana in the next two to three hours. On Sunday, The heavy monsoon downpour led to traffic snarls on key road stretches in the two states and resulted in flight delays, officials said. Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said extensive arrangements have been made to deal with any kind of exigency arising out of potential floods.

Several teams of the National Disaster Response Force were also deployed in the flood-ravaged districts, including Mohali and Fatehgarh Sahib. Haryana's Ambala administration announced holidays on Monday and Tuesday in all government and private schools of the district as more heavy rains were forecast for the area. Three rivers Markanda, Ghaggar and Tangri were reported to flow close to the danger mark in Ambala.

Schools have also been ordered to remain shut in Haryana's Panchkula district on Monday, officials said. In Punjab's Rupnagar, Mohali and Patiala, authorities declared a school holiday for Monday. Trains on the Rupnagar-Nangal routes were cancelled for the day due to a flood-like situation while road traffic on the Rupnagar-Chandigarh route was affected.