President Ram Nath Kovind’s scheduled Gumla and Deoghar visit and chief minister Raghubar Das’ political programmes under Johar Jan Ashirwad Yatra on Sunday were cancelled due to incessant downpour continued to lash Jharkhand for the fourth day, causing water- logging and flood -like situation in many parts of the state.
The president arrived in Ranchi on Saturday evening and was scheduled to visit Gumla on Sunday to attend a function of Vikash Bharati, a non-government organisation, followed by a visit to the temple town Deoghar to offer prayers at Baba Baidyanath Dham temple. A Raj Bhawan official said the President’s visit to two places was cancelled due to bad weather.
Similarly, chief minister Raghubar Das also had to postpone his ongoing political programmes under Johar Jan Ashirwad Yatra in Kolhan due to heavy rainfall. Das in a statement said the next date of his programmes would be announced soon.
Non-stop rainfall for past four days has caused major damage in parts of Jharkhand. About 70 mud houses and temporary hutments were submerged, while several culverts and small bridges have been washed away in remote areas in many districts, officials said. Besides, Hatia-Patna express from Hatia station and Patna-Hatia express from Patna station were cancelled due to heavy rainfall in two states, railway officials said.
Sahebganj is the worst affected district in the state due to rains, as it had already been struggling with flood situation due to rising water level in Ganga river. District administration officials said, over 10,000 people have been affected due to flood and over 2,000 people were rescued safely from the low lying areas.
The administration on Sunday called a team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to deal with the flood situation. NDRF team commander Santosh Kumar said they carried out rescue operations in three villages and rescued 56 people by 4pm.
“We are also facing challenges, as many villagers are not ready to leave their places due to their cattle. They are being convinced, as situation is turning worse here,” he said.
Ganga has been flowing one metre above the danger level for past four days. Office in-charge of Central Water Commission (CWC), Sahibganj, Ranjit Kumar Mishra said they recorded the level in Ganga river at 28.27 metre at 6am on Sunday against the danger level of 27.25 metre.
He said the trend was rising. “The flood forecast for Monday is 28.31 metre. The level will increase here in the river due to heavy rainfall in Bihar,” Mishra said.
The rainfall has also impacted normal life in capital Ranchi, with water entering several low-lying localities. Water logging on many roads also caused traffic jams in the city.
However, weather department is expecting respite from the rains from October 2. “The situation would start improving gradually from Monday with fairly wide spread rainfall. Thereafter, scattered rainfall is expected,” said RS Sharma, forecasting officer at Ranchi Meteorological Centre.
State’s highest rainfall was recorded in Deoghar with 180mm rainfall in 24 hours, while Ranchi recorded the lowest 66. 4 mm rainfall from 8: 30 am on Saturday to 8: 30 am on Sunday.
