At least two children were killed and four suffered serious injuries when a thatched hut collapsed due to the impact of the heavy rain during the last 24 hours at Somai Jhopri locality of Bagbera.
On the other hand, over 2,000 people were affected as houses in the low lying areas of the city were submerged amid strong flood threats as the water-level in the twin rivers — Kharkai and Swarnrekha — suddenly surged above danger mark following heavy rain in the catchments areas. Moreover, water released from the sluice gates of Banckwel/Kharkai dam in Mayurbhanj district of neighbouring Odisha also added to the panic.
Those killed have been identified as eight-year-old girl Santosh Das and seven-year-old boy Anshu Das, both children of contract worker Hemchandra Das (30), who also sustained injury in the incident. The injured persons are being treated at the MGM Medical College and Hospital in Sakchi.
Officials said water from Kharkai river gushed into areas of Bagbera last evening at around 7 pm and at around 10.30 pm water gushed into CP Tola, Somai Jhopri and Baroda Ghat area of Bagbera affecting around 500 houses in the low-lying areas.
According to the information received from the flood control room here, Kharkai was flowing at 134.05 meters, 5.08 meters above the danger mark of 129 meter in Adityapur area, while Swarnrekha river at Manago was flowing at 123.10 meters against the red mark of 123.10 meters at 1300 hours on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, SDO and in-charge of rescue operation, Subodh Kumar said that several houses in low lying areas like Baghbera, Mango were submerged. All the necessary rescue and relief measures were being taken to effectively tackle the situation. Similar scenes could be seen at Islam Nagar, Shiv Ghat and Garib Nawaz Colony localities of Jugsalai affecting nearly 200 houses.
“We are working on a strategy to coordinate in such a way that there is no negative impact of rains in the city. We would examine the city’s needs for drainage, construction of embankments and any other measure required to handle floods,” said SDO, Dhalbhum.
“All the notified area committees will supervise the operations in their jurisdictions while the administration will keep in touch with them,” said another official. East Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner Amitabh Kaushal said the administration has mobilised all its resources to mitigate problems of those affected by flash floods in the district.
Meanwhile, in the neighbouring Seraikela-Kharsawan district, a 50 meter long bridge connecting Seraikela district headquarter with Rajnagar block was submerged due to swelling of Kharkai river.