Heavy rain lashes Bihar, lightning kills 5
PATNA: Heavy rain, accompanied with lightning and thunderstorm, claimed five lives across four districts in Bihar in the last 24 hours, officials said on Wednesday.
Extremely heavy rain occurred at Forbesganj and Araria while heavy to very heavy rain occurred at Sitamarhi, Supaul, Madhepura and Kishanganj during the past 24 hours, said officials of Patna Meteorological Centre on Wednesday.
Two people died in Bhojpur whereas Aurangabad, Muzaffarpur and Samastipur recorded one death each.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar expressed grief over the death of five people and announced ex gratia of ₹4 lakh for the next kin of each deceased.
Meanwhile, Patnaites woke up to a rainy morning as heavy to very heavy rain accompanied with high-speed winds lashed the state capital, for the first time this monsoon season.
Patna recorded 37 mm of rainfall between 8.30 am to 5.30 pm.
The first long spell of showers exposed the poor preparedness of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) as majority of posh localities, including Bihar Vidhan Mandal, were seen submerged in stormwater.
Rainwater gushed inside the premises of Bihar Vidhan Mandal while several localities, including Station Road, Gandhi Maidan, Kurji, Digha, Dak Bunglow, Hartali More, Boring Road, Shivpuri, Patliputra, Rajendra Nagar, Kankarbagh, Ashok Rajpath, Gardanibagh, Bazar Samiti and pockets of Bailey Road were seen inundated after rain.
Residents could be seen wading through knee-deep water near Kankarbagh, Kurji More, Gardanibagh and Bailey Road. Several two-wheelers skidded due to waterlogging and dug up roads and open manholes.
Prakash Kumar, a college student near Digha, said, “My bike skidded near Danapur due to dug up road in the morning. I faced minor injuries but my friend who was a pillion rider got severely injured. Seeing the bad condition of roads, I am afraid of riding bike in the monsoon season.”
However, PMC claimed they were on alert mode and waterlogging was cleared from the majority of places till the evening.
Municipal commissioner Animesh Kumar Parashar, said, “Rainwater from the premises of Bihar Vidhan Mandal was cleared with the help of jetting machines as soon as rain abated . Besides, waterlogging from other prominent areas, including Digha Road, Kurji, Gandhi Maidan, Police Colony and Patliputra Colony, was also cleared by the afternoon.”
“Our quick-response team is on alert mode. We have constituted 19 zonal quick response teams across 75 wards. They are taking rounds of their respective localities to clear waterlogging. Residents can lodge complaints regarding waterlogging on 24x7 helpline number 155304. Our officers also inspected all 42 permanent sump houses and 21 temporary sump houses which were found in good working condition”, he added.
Meanwhile, meteorologists said heavy rain would continue in majority parts of the state till July 2.