Heavy rains disrupt normal life in western MP

Bhopal, Aug 7 (UNI) Death toll due to rain-related incidents rose to six people, while about 12 people were washed away due to heavy rains and flood in western Madhya Pradesh.

Normal life was paralysed and road traffic thrown off gear, while residents of several villages on river banks were evacuated to safety, official sources said today.

A tribal was washed away and another was killed in house collapse in Jhabua district. Road and telephone network remained crippled across the region.

About 550 houses had collapsed and 1,300 damaged in Khargone and Badwani districts, while electricity and communication had collapsed.

Monsoon fury was at its worst in Khargone district, where a 42-year-old bridge on the Kunda river was damaged, while 10,000 people from 30 low-lying villages had been shifted to relief camps. Few hundred people had been stranded due to snapping of road link with other districts.

Five people were washed away in separate incidents as rivers and rivulets were in spate.

In Khargone town, several officers along with their families spent the night in hotels due to flooding of their Civil Line residences.

Jhabua, Dhar, Khandwa, Khargone, Burhanpur and Badwani were receiving heavy rains causing flood in Narmada and its half a dozen tributaries.

At Alirajpur in Jhabua district, Narmada water level touched 126.22 metre crossing the danger level of 119 metre flooding over 12 villages. About 20 people were still stranded on trees or hillocks.

Narmada was flowing over the Rajghat bridge in Badwani district disrupting traffic on Agra-Mumbai highway. Telephone and banking services were affected, while school and offices observed undeclared holiday. With two dams overflowing, five people were washed away in the district.

Khargone received 32 cm rain overnight, Jhabua 10, Alirajpur 14, Badwani 15, Betul, Bhopal, Khandwa and Harsud 4 cm each. The meteorological office forecast heavy rains in western part of the state in next 48 hours.

Two people were swept away in flood in Indore, which has received 484.9 mm rainfall so far. Incessant rains throughout the day crippled normal life in the city.

Rivulets and rivers, including Tapti, were in spate in Burhanpur district. Motorcycle-borne Rajendra Kharche (20) died after being washed away in a rivulet near Dapora village. Two people were missing after being swept away in Tapti river in Khamni village.

UNI Team-PS VA RN2143