Heavy rains disrupt normal life in west MP

Bhopal, Jan 7 (UNI) Normal life remains paralysed in western Madhya Pradesh as incessant rains caused flood in all rivers and rivulets disrupting road traffic while residents of several villages on river banks were evacuated to safer places, official sources said today.

The death toll due to rain-related incidents rose to four with a tribal being washed away and another being killed in house collapse in Jhabua district. Road and telephone network remain crippled across the region.

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 evacuated 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.

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 strill standed on trees or hillocks.

Narmada was flowing over the Rajghat bridge in Badwani district dislocating traffic on Agra-Mumbai highway.

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

UNI