Jamshedpur:Around 2,500 people living in the southern part of Jharkhand were evacuated to safer places as low-lying areas were inundated by overflowing rivers and dams following incessant rain since Friday night, officials said. Though the deep depression that brought heavy rainfall has weakened, parts of the state recorded light to moderate rain on Sunday.
In Jharkhand's Kolhan division comprising Seraikela-Kharswan and East and West Singhbhum districts, 2,500-odd people affected by the flood-like situation were shifted to safer places since Saturday. The water level of the Kharkhai and Swarnarekha rivers which were flowing above the danger level on Sunday morning is slowly receding, officials said.
Water released from dams such as Chandil and Tenughat also inundated low-lying areas affecting the people of various areas, particularly Jamshedpur city in East Singhbhum district. In Seraikela-Kharswan district, over 1,600 people were shifted to temporary shelter homes from Seraikela and Chandil sub-divisions after areas including Rammadaiya bustee, Bhatia bustee, Raidih bustee, Kapali and Chandil were submerged.
The district administration has made arrangements for their food at shelter homes and deployed an ambulance to meet any emergency, Deputy Commissioner Arava Rajkamal said. More than 500 people were relocated to a nearby school building from Gandhi Tola in Chaibasa in West Singhbhum district after the area was inundated. Deputy Commissioner Ananya Mittal told PTI that the situation in the district has improved as no rain occurred since morning.
However, the administration is identifying shelter homes in certain pockets of the district as a precautionary measure with the possibility of rain in the next two days, Mittal said. In East Singhbhum's industrial city of Jamshedpur alone, over 150 people were evacuated after water gushed in in residential areas such as Shastrinagar, Bagbeda, Jugsalai and Mango. Deputy Commissioner Vijaya Jadav who visited those affected areas said the situation is being monitored continuously.
The situation in the steel city has worsened after the Chandil and Kharkai dams of Jharkhand, besides the Bankabal dam in neighbouring Odisha, discharged water leading to a rise in the water level of the two rivers. In Bokaro district, three radial gates of Tenughat Dam across the Damodar river were opened on Saturday night after the water level exceeded a certain storage level.
Around 21,000 cusec (cubic feet per second) of water is being released from the dam to maintain the water level. The current reserve level is 856.90 feet against the conservation level of 852 feet, said Tenughat dam nodal officer Pankaj Kumar. People living in catchment areas have been asked to be alert and not to go near the river, said Tenughat dam nodal officer Pankaj Kumar.
The Ramgarh district administration has also issued an alert as radial gates of the Patratu dam might be opened anytime. The water level in the dam reached close to the danger level, an official said. In Ranchi's Kanke dam, the water level exceeded the storage level of 28 feet. One gate of the dam was opened to release surplus water. After releasing water, currently water level is at 27 feet, Kanke Dam executive engineer Ajay Kumar Singh said.
Ranchi Meteorological Centre in charge Abhishek Anand said there is no weather warning for the state. With the incessant rain, the state's overall rainfall deficit came down to 26 per cent on Sunday from 38 per cent recorded on Friday. The state has received 532.3 mm of rainfall from June 1 to August 21 against the normal rainfall of 721.2 mm. (PTI)
