Rain fury: Death toll reaches 12 in MP; situation in Bengal remains critical

Twelve people have died and seven injured in various rain-related incidents in flood-ravaged Gwalior and Chambal divisions of Madhya Pradesh, officials said on Thursday, even as the IMD sounded a fresh heavy rain alert for 23 districts.

Bhopal/Kolkata:Twelve people have died and seven injured in various rain-related incidents in flood-ravaged Gwalior and Chambal divisions of Madhya Pradesh, officials said on Thursday, even as the IMD sounded a fresh heavy rain alert for 23 districts. The rainfall in Gwalior and Chambal divisions in north MP has now abated, rescue operations have ended and relief operations have begun, officials said. The region was being pounded by rains since Sunday. Some deaths took place in the incidents of house or wall collapse, and in some cases carelessness cost people their lives, divisional commissioner Ashish Saxena said.

Three people were rescued on Thursday in Bhind by choppers, while aircraft dropped food packets and other emergency aid material in the worst-hit Sheopur and Datia districts, the commissioner said. Seven people have been injured -- four in Guna, two in Shivpuri and one in Morena," state revenue secretary Gyaneshwar B Patil said. Rescue operations have almost ended, he added. As many as 30,790 people were evacuated to safer places in Gwalior and Chambal divisions and around 6,000 people were staying in 126 relief camps, Patil said. As many as 287 cattle perished -- 125 in Sheopur, 76 in Shivpuri, 75 in Datia, nine in Guna and two in Morena. 18,304 houses were damaged, including 15,000 in Sheopur, 2,124 in Datia, 672 in Shivpuri, 456 in Guna and 52 in Ashok Nagar, he said.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday toured the flood-affected areas of Gwalior, Datia and Shivpuri districts.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday evening issued an `orange' alert forecasting `heavy to very heavy' rainfall in the districts of Rajgarh, Shajapur, Agar-Malwa, Mandsaur, Guna and Ashok Nagar. A yellow alert forecast of `heavy rain' was issued for Sheopur, Morena, Bhind, Neemuch, Shivpuri, Gwalior, Datia, Vidisha, Raisen, Sehore, Hoshangabad, Dhar, Dewas, Narsinghpur, Tikamgarh, Niwari and Sagar. Both the alerts are valid till Friday morning, said P K Saha, senior meteorologist, IMD, Bhopal. Gwalior and Chambal divisions comprise the districts of Gwalior, Shivpuri, Guna, Ashok Nagar, Datia, Sheopur, Morena and Bhind in north Madhya Pradesh.

The state has not seen such devastation in the last 70 years that the rain-ravaged Gwalior-Chambal region is facing. Bridges near the Ratangarh Mata Temple and Sankua in the area were damaged and many people got stranded, a state official quoted chief minister Chouhan as saying during a meeting earlier in the day.

Chouhan spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the morning. The prime minister assured all possible help to the state, officials said. The CM also spoke with Union Home Minister Amit Shah who said the Centre will send an advance team to assess the damage, officials said. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu also called Chouhan to enquire about the flood situation.

Death toll remains unchanged in West Bengal

The flood situation in West Bengal remained critical on Thursday though there was less rainfall, a senior state government official said. The number of deaths due to the deluge remained unchanged at 23 as no fresh fatality was reported from any of the seven affected districts where around three lakh people have been shifted to rescue centres.

"The flood situation remains critical. We are monitoring it. Adequate measures have been taken and we have ensured that there is ample supply of drinking water, dry food packets and medicines," the official said. More than 4 lakh hectares of agricultural land in these seven districts is under water now. Heavy rain and subsequent discharge of water from dams in the last few days have inundated large parts of Purba and Paschim Bardhaman, Paschim Medinipur, Hooghly, Howrah, South 24 Parganas and Birbhum districts.

On Thursday, 24,000 cusec water was released from Maithon dam of the Damodar Valley Corporation and it is within the normal range, a DVC official said.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday complained to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the DVC caused the "man-made" deluge by releasing water from its dams in an unprecedented manner. The DVC, however, said that it discharges water after taking consent of the state government and blaming it for the flood is not justified.

PTI