Jalandhar, Sept. 2 -- Punjab is witnessing its worst floods in nearly four decades with 29 people having lost their lives in 12 worst-affected districts of the border state. According to the data compiled by the Punjab government from August 1 to September 1, ever since rivers and rivulets started swelling due to heavy rain in the hills of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, six people died in Pathankot district due to the swollen Ravi river, three each in Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Mansa, Rupnagar and Barnala districts. The deluge claimed the lives of one person each in Bathinda, Gurdaspur, Patiala, Mohali and Sangrur districts. Meanwhile, three people are missing in Pathankot district since the flash floods hit the area last week. Besides the Ravi, the Beas and Sutlej have created havoc in Punjab, leading to one of worst floods since 1988. "The data related to deaths has been compiled on the basis of reports received from the district headquarters. It includes those died due to electrocution, house collapse incidents and drowning due to flooding in affected areas," a senior state government official said. The office of director, land records, Jalandhar, a nodal agency managing the state's flood control room, has been sending a daily report to the state financial revenue commissioner after compiling data about the estimated loss to agriculture land and livestock, besides providing data on daily evacuations, deaths and missing persons in the 1,044 affected villages. According to the flood bulletin released by the government, an estimated 2.56 lakh people have been largely impacted due to the floods, with the highest 1.45 lakh population in Gurdaspur district, where 321 villages are affected. It is followed by 35,000 people in 88 villages of Amritsar district, 24,015 people in Ferozepur district's 76 villages, 21,562 people in Fazilka's 72 villages, 15,053 people in 82 villages of Pathankot district, 5,650 people in 115 villages of Kapurthala district and 1,152 people in Hoshiarpur's 94 villages. However, the devastating floods have resulted in extensive financial losses to farmers, particularly in the crucial paddy-growing season, as 2.32 lakh acres (94,061 hectares) of land is submerged across the state. According to the official data, 56,834 acres of agricultural land has been affected in Amritsar district, followed by 42,020 acres in Mansa district, 36,902 acres in Kapurthala, 29,363 acres in Tarn Taran, 27,754 acres in Ferozepur, 14,754 acres in Hoshiarpur and 6,034 acres in Pathankot district. The Gurdaspur district administration is yet to compile the data of the possible loss as the preliminary survey has been delayed due to high water level in the flood-hit villages. State government officials say that the loss of livestock and infrastructure damaged could be assessed only once the flood water recedes. The government has so far evacuated 15,688 people from the flood-hit areas, while 7,144 people are being put up in 129 relief centres set up by the government. Besides the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), 20 teams of the NDRF, 10 columns of the Indian Army and 35 choppers have been deployed to carry out relief and rescue operations....