River water gushes into Steel City houses, 50 evacuated

Jamshedpur: Water from two rivers — Subarnarekha and Kharkhai — entered into over 150 houses early on Thursday after intermittent rain coupled with releasing of water by four major dams, Bankbil, Subernarekha (at Mayurbhanj in Odisha), Chandil and Galudih barrage in Kolhan on Wednesday. While a child died during a wall collapse, as many as 50 people were shifted to safer places but some families refused to leave their houses, the district administration said.
Till Thursday afternoon, Steel City recorded 88.8mm rainfall. The four dams released more than 1,100 cusecs of water on Wednesday, resulting in Kharkhai flowing 2m above the danger mark of 129m while Subarnarekha is flowing 2m below its danger mark of 121m till Thursday morning.
Over 40 houses located in Naya Basti, Pradhan Tola and Sidho-Kanho in Bagbera, 35 in Garib Nawaz Colony and Shiv Ghat area in Jugsalai and more than 50 houses in Shastrinagar in Kadma are flooded as water from Kharkhai gushed into their homes. At Kumardungi panchayat in Baharagora block, rainwater inundated close to 30 houses.
“We shifted 50 people to the rescue centres (community centres) overnight but some refused to vacate their house,” Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee city manager Ambuj Kumar Singh said.
He added that schools located close to the affected areas have also been readied to shift more people if the situation worsens.
The Mango Notified Area Committee (MNAC) city manager, Jeetender Singh, said they have not yet felt the need to shift the people to the rescue centres. He, however, said MNAC is monitoring the situation round-the-clock.
Those living in the low-lying areas have urged the district administration to provide them with food packets. “The inundation has damaged the belongings of several poor families in Naya Basti and they are looking at the administration for help,” said Bagbera resident Subodh Jha.
The weather situation is unlikely to improve in the next 48 hours as the meteorological department has forecast moderate to heavy rain in the region. “The effect of a low-pressure system, which is currently prevailing over the southern part of Jharkhand, will steadily move towards the western part of the country towards Chhattisgarh from Saturday. Till that time, moderate to heavy rainfalls will continue,” IMD (Ranchi) director S D Kotal said.
Meanwhile, a six-year-old boy died after being trapped in the debris of a mud wall that collapsed following overnight rain in Kankushi village under Mufassil police station area in West Singhbhum. “The mishap occurred early on Thursday,” said Ashutosh Kumar, the officer-in-charge of Muffasil police station.