Heavy rain causes flood in Andaman; flights cancelled

Port Blair, Sep 12 (UNI) A heavy downpour disrupted normal life in Andaman as over 14 families were displaced in southern parts of the Union Territory and all incoming flights cancelled today.

According to Disaster Control Room, Port Blair, displaced families were later shifted to safer places after water from Andaman's lone water reservoir Dhanikhari Dam flooded their houses.

When duty staff of the dam saw water level increasing this morning, they opened a water gate as precautionary measure, which flooded houses of nearby villages, Casper James, in charge of Disaster Control Room told UNI.

Administration has provided temporary shelter to all 44 members of the displaced families in a nearby government school, he said.

Heavy rain also caused land slide here which completely damaged a portion of Andaman's Chinmaya mission.

However, there was no report of any loss of life so far.

Meanwhile, all four scheduled flights of Indian, Air Deccan and Jetlite to Port Blair from Kolkata and Chennai were cancelled as some portion of the Port Blair runway was inundated with rain water.

According to local Met office Andaman and Nicobar received 150 mm rainfall during last 24 hours.

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