Alert in Bengal as rivers swell; rain fury unabated
Six districts worst hit; disaster management teams swing into action in states facing floods; Army and IAF called in for rescue and relief operations in some places
KOLKATA/MIDNAPORE/BERHAMPORE: Continuous heavy rainfall since Sunday inundated large parts of West Bengal, prompting the government to sound an alert on Monday afternoon as water level in more than a dozen rivers kept rising.
State and national highways were inundated and damaged at several places, cutting off a number of district towns and villages.
The worst affected districts included Birbhum, West Midnapore, East Mindapore, Murshidabad, Bankura and Howrah. The Met department has predicted more rainfall till Wednesday.
Life in Kolkata was affected as several important roads remained submerged since Sunday evening.
Anticipating a crisis, the government set up a special control room at Nabanna, the state secretariat. “All employees of the disaster management and irrigation departments and chief medical officers have been asked to report for duty. Leaves have been cancelled,” said irrigation minister Rajib Banerjee.
Banerjee said he was in constant touch with officials of the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) so that the government could get information before water was released from the reservoirs at any of DVC’s river barrages.
In Murshidabad district, more than 50 villages in Kandi sub-division were completely inundated and thousands of people displaced. “The situation is equally critical in Khargram, Bharatpur and Barwan blocks. In Bharatpur, around 200 families are trapped in their homes. We have started distributing relief material and food,” the minister said.
In West Mindapore district, the Kanshabati, Shilabati and Keleghai rivers were flowing at danger level, officials said on Monday afternoon.
As a result, vast parts of Ghatal, Chandrakona, Keshpur, Debra, Pingla and Sabang remained submerged.
In Birbhum district, vast areas of Labhpur and Sainthia got inundated, cutting off highway links between towns.
NORTH GUJARAT HIT
Torrential rains pounded parts of north Gujarat on Monday, with overflowing reservoirs and rivers causing floods in Banaskantha and Patan districts, prompting the government to put the state on high alert. Army, IAF and NDRF teams have been called in for rescue and relief operations. About 2,200 people have been shifted to safer places and over 460 others rescued.
ODISHA GEARS UP
The Odisha government has rushed ODRAF personnel and dispatched dry food to two northern districts in view of a possible flood-like situation due to rising water level in some rivers.
“One Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) team each has been rushed to Keonjhar and Bhadrak districts, special relief commissioner (SRC) BP Sethi said. “We are fully prepared to deal with a possible flood-like situation in the northern region of the state,” the SRC said.
The threat of a flood-like situation looms large with the water level of Baitarani, Subarnarekha and Budhabalang rising steadily.
RAJ SCHOOLS SHUT
Heavy rainfall over the past three days has triggered a flood-like situation in four districts of Rajasthan as authorities sounded an alert and closed schools in many areas.
In Barmer, Jalore and Sirohi and Pali districts, people said many areas were marooned and lots of makeshift structures damaged due to thunderstorms and heavy rains. In the capital Jaipur, many areas were submerged even on Monday and local residents reported having to wade through knee-to waist-deep water.
102 MM RAIN IN J’KHAND
Incessant rain for past four days due to depression in Bay of Bengal has inundated many clogged pockets of Jamshedpur, Galudih, Koderma and low lying areas.
Jharkhand has received 102 mm rainfall in last four days, 66 mm from Sunday evening to Monday evening. People living along river basins and areas close to water reservoirs are panicky even though the government said there was nothing to worry.