Nearly 5,000 rescued after rains swell rivers across Chhattisgarh

Nearly 5,000 people were rescued, including 16 airlifted, in the last two days after heavy rains swelled rivers in Chhattisgarh, officials said on Sunday, while a video showed people retrieving liquor bottles swept away from a shop in Dhamtari.

As many as six truck drivers and helpers were stranded on a highway in the worst-affected Bastar and sought help from the rooftops of their vehicles before being rescued, they said.

On Saturday, two persons were reported missing after being swept away in separate incidents in Dhamtari district, while two boys, aged 12 and 16, were swept away while bathing in the swollen Arpa River in Bilaspur district, they said, adding that the body of one of the victims was found.

Although rainfall has subsided, rising water levels in rivers and streams due to continued inflow from upstream areas and release of water from dams have aggravated the flood-like situation, particularly in Bastar and adjoining areas, they said.

More than 1,000 persons have been rescued and shifted to relief camps in the last 24 hours in Bastar district, an official in Jagdalpur said. Sixteen persons stranded in the Dongaghat area were rescued using helicopters on Sunday morning, he said.

The administration has set up 43 relief camps in urban and rural areas of the district, where more than 5,000 affected people were being provided shelter, food and other essential facilities, the official said.

The Indravati river level rose to 12.56 metres by 8 pm on Saturday, 4.26 metres above the danger mark. The rising water level has prompted heightened vigilance in low-lying and riverside settlements, with field teams instructed to monitor vulnerable areas round the clock and evacuate people whenever required, he said.

Bastar Collector Akash Chhikara and Superintendent of Police Shalabh Sinha visited several affected areas, including Dongaghat and Asna, for the second consecutive day on Saturday to assess the situation. They also inspected arrangements at a relief camp in Panarapara, he said.

In another rescue operation, around half a dozen truck drivers and helpers stranded amid floodwaters near Sonarpal in the district on National Highway-30 were rescued by relief teams on Saturday, he said.

Five trucks got stranded after several feet of water accumulated on the Jagdalpur-Raipur Road. The drivers and helpers had taken shelter on the roofs of the vehicles and sought help from the administration through videos, he said.

In Dhamtari, the rising water level of the Mahanadi had submerged the liquor shop, sweeping away bottles kept there. A video showed some people trying to retrieve the bottles from the flowing water using a sari and net tied to a bamboo pole.

A 65-year-old retired forest department employee, Babulal Sahu, went missing in Sirsida village of the district. His mobile phone, shawl, walking stick and towel were found near the riverbank, raising fears that he may have been swept away, officials said.

In another incident, a 15-year-old girl, Tarana Nishad, was swept away in a rivulet near a petrol pump in Megha village under the Magarlod police station area, they said.

Police and SDRF teams were conducting search operations in both places.

In Bilaspur, two boys, aged 12 and 16, were swept away while bathing in the swollen Arpa River at Madhuban Ghat in the Dayalband area on Saturday. The body of one of them was recovered late on Saturday, while a search was underway for the other boy, officials said.

In Durg, 764 people were rescued after water entered around 200 houses in 13 rural areas and parts of Durg and Bhilai following continuous rainfall on September 24 and 25. They were shifted to 16 temporary relief camps established in different places of the district to provide food, drinking water and other essential facilities, officials said.

In Raipur district, several villages and settlements along the river in the Abhanpur area, including Nawapara, Somwari Bazar, Nehru Ghat, Paragaon and Kutipara, faced flooding. Around 2,000 people were shifted to safer locations and relief centres, where arrangements for food, drinking water and other essential facilities have been made, officials said.???

Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Tankram Verma visited the affected areas in Abhanpur on Saturday and distributed assistance cheques of Rs 5,000 each to affected people.

In Dhamtari, nine persons stranded at the Lomash Rishi Ashram in the Kurud area amid floodwaters were rescued by police and administration teams with the help of local residents.

An SDRF team was also deployed to rescue people trapped due to waterlogging at a liquor shop in Nari village in Kurud, officials said.

In Balodabazar-Bhatapara district, 120 people stranded in villages following a rise in river and stream levels due to heavy rain were rescued and shifted to safer locations, officials said.

In Narayanpur district in the Bastar region, nine families living along the riverbank in Kalmanar village of Orchha block were shifted to safer locations and relatives’ houses as the water level of the river approached the danger mark.

A 55-year-old villager, Gopi Ram Patel, was also rescued after he became stranded amid floodwaters in Taragaon on Saturday, they said.