Heavy rainfall floods parts of Jharkhand

Ranchi, Aug 19: Heavy rainfall across the state during the last three days has adversely impacted normal life in Jharkhand leading to water levels of prominent rivers rising and causing water logging in major towns and cities.

According to the local Met department, due to a low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal, Ranchi and several other districts have received heavy to very heavy rainfall in the last 48 hours till Friday morning. The Met department said that similar conditions are likely to prevail over the next 24 hours.

In wake of the heavy rainfall in the state, the disaster management department has already issued an alert as in several districts a flood-like situation has been prevailing.

"Rainfall will be witnessed again August 22 onwards," the local Met office said, adding that due to the low pressure area in the Bay of Bengal rainfall is occurring in a wide sweep in Jharkhand, East Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Odisha, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Kerala.

In several districts including Latehar, Gumla and Chatra, major rivers were flowing above the danger mark. In Chatra alone three bridges were washed away, while heavy rainfall and strong winds have adversely impacted electricity supplies.

In Lohardaga, the main canal from the Nandini river was breached, damaging crops over thousands of acres.

In Ramgrah district, where the Maa Chinmastika Temple -- known for its tantrik style of architecture -- is situated, at least 70 shops have been washed away while water was flowing over the Chilka bridge due to which the road leading to the temple from Gola has been blocked.

The district administration has erected signboards at various locations cautioning the people to remain away from the water.

Even in the steel city of Jamshedpur, the water levels of Swarnarekha and Kharkahi rivers were flowing above the danger mark and due to opening of the gates of Vyangbil Dam of Odisha various colonies in the low lying areas including Bagbera, Kadma and Manngo were flooded.

In state capital Ranchi, several areas including Islam Nagar, Azad Basti, Nala Road, Madhukam and Krishnapuri were flooded, making life difficult for the people.

In case of any emergency, the state government has no option but to rely on the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams as Jharkhand still does not have a state disaster authority to look into such situations.

Initially 333 personnel had been provided training to be deployed in State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), which, officials say, is still to be constituted. At present 61 members of a NDRF team have been deployed in Deoghar, 43 in Garhwa and 39 in Ranchi.

A week ago, the floods in Chatra and Garhwa districts badly impacted life. The flood left many dead, several thousands displaced and cattle was washed away.

IANS