News Analysis India

Tag: MP floods

  • MP flood fury: Chouhan govt seeks Rs 2,043 crore from Centre for reconstruction works

    Express News Service

    BHOPAL: The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh has sent a detailed report to the Centre on the devastation caused by torrential rains and resultant floods in 9 districts of the state last month. Chauhan sought central assistance of Rs 2,043 crores for restoration and reconstruction works.

    The 140-page report sent by the state government about the floods contains details on various parameters of devastating floods in nine districts — Guna, Sheopur, Morena, Gwalior, Shivpuri, Ashok Nagar, Bhind, Datia and Vidisha in the first week of August.

    As per the report, 9334 people were rescued, 32,960 evacuated and 278 people airlifted during the rescue operations by the state police, NDRF, SDRF, Indian Air Force, central paramilitary forces and Indian Army columns.

    The flash floods damaged 1874.18 km roads and 1583 bridges and culverts, 939 village panchayat buildings, community halls and ponds. As many as 1,700 schools and hostels too were damaged by the floods. Further 2446 urban infrastructure structures, 65 health department facilities and 464 water resources department structures too were damaged.

    The report sums up that as many as 63 development blocks in nine districts were affected by the floods. Crops in a total 1,14,889 hectare area were affected by the floods, causing a total crop loss of Rs 577.33 crores.

    The floods in all major rivers of the Gwalior-Chambal region and Vidisha districts following two three days of unstopped rains also damaged/destroyed 62,107 houses, 2383 cattle sheds, leading to loss of 1230 animals and 5977 poultry stock.

    According to informed sources in the state government, while the state government is already engaged in relief and rehabilitation measures and is compensating the population of the affected areas through its own resources, an assistance of Rs 2043 crores has been sought from the centre. The Centre has also been requested to release Rs 728 crores as the second installment for the State Disaster Relief Fund.

    Earlier, on Monday, the MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan transferred a relief sum of Rs 31.51 crore to over 24,500 beneficiaries in the nine flood-hit districts. So far, Rs 109.89 crore relief aid has been sent to the accounts of more than 27,000 flood-affected people.

  • Madhya Pradesh government failed to provide relief to flood victims: Digvijaya Singh

    By PTI

    GWALIOR: Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Saturday alleged the Madhya Pradesh government has failed to provide relief to victims of flood in the Gwalior and Chambal divisions as it was more focussed on “business” rather than governance.

    He also claimed that the electricity supply to the flood-ravaged areas has not been restored yet and the victims are not getting food.

    Twenty four people were killed in rain-related incidents during floods in the first week of August in North MP.

    “Bridges and culverts were washed away in recent floods.

    This was the government’s failure because the BJP does not run the government but it does business.

    Due to commissions and cuts, sub-standard constructions are done,” Singh told reporters at Bhitarwar here.

    The Rajya Sabha MP said victims of floods were given food by social workers, “which is the failure of the state government”.

    He also said the state government has not yet surveyed to assess the loss and damage caused by floods.

    “Officers and the government were sleeping when the India Meteorological Department warned of rains due to which kuccha houses were washed away completely.

    Pucca houses were destroyed in Sheopur and Shivpuri districts (due to floods),” he said.

    Referring to the alleged mobbing of Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in Sheopur, Singh said officers were shunted out of the district instead of being suspended.

  • Rain fury in MP: Death toll reaches 12; IMD issues alert for 23 districts

    By PTI

    BHOPAL: Twelve people have died and seven injured in various rain-related incidents in flood-ravaged Gwalior and Chambal divisions of Madhya Pradesh, officials said on Thursday, even as the IMD sounded a fresh heavy rain alert for 23 districts.

    The rainfall in Gwalior and Chambal divisions in north MP has now abated, rescue operations have ended and relief operations have begun, officials said.

    The region was being pounded by rains since Sunday.

    “Twelve rain-related deaths had been reported till yesterday. No death was reported today,” said divisional commissioner Ashish Saxena, speaking to PTI over phone.

    Some deaths took place in the incidents of house or wall collapse, and in some cases carelessness cost people their lives, he said.

    A man drowned while watching a river in flood while some others were swept away while crossing flooded bridges, Saxena said.

    Three people were rescued on Thursday in Bhind by choppers, while aircraft dropped food packets and other emergency aid material in the worst-hit Sheopur and Datia districts, the commissioner said.

    “Seven people have been injured — four in Guna, two in Shivpuri and one in Morena,” state revenue secretary Gyaneshwar B Patil told PTI.

    Rescue operations have almost ended, he added.

    As many as 30,790 people were evacuated to safer places in Gwalior and Chambal divisions and around 6,000 people were staying in 126 relief camps, Patil said.

    As many as 287 cattle perished — 125 in Sheopur, 76 in Shivpuri, 75 in Datia, nine in Guna and two in Morena.

    18,304 houses were damaged, including 15,000 in Sheopur, 2,124 in Datia, 672 in Shivpuri, 456 in Guna and 52 in Ashok Nagar, he said.

    Four big bridges and 21 medium bridges were damaged in Sheopur and Datia.

    Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday toured the flood-affected areas of Gwalior, Datia and Shivpuri districts.

    The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday evening issued an `orange’ alert forecasting `heavy to very heavy’ rainfall in the districts of Rajgarh, Shajapur, Agar-Malwa, Mandsaur, Guna and Ashok Nagar.

    A yellow alert forecast of `heavy rain’ was issued for Sheopur, Morena, Bhind, Neemuch, Shivpuri, Gwalior, Datia, Vidisha, Raisen, Sehore, Hoshangabad, Dhar, Dewas, Narsinghpur, Tikamgarh, Niwari and Sagar.

    Both the alerts are valid till Friday morning, said P K Saha, senior meteorologist, IMD, Bhopal.

    Gwalior and Chambal divisions comprise the districts of Gwalior, Shivpuri, Guna, Ashok Nagar, Datia, Sheopur, Morena and Bhind in north Madhya Pradesh.

    “The state has not seen such devastation in the last 70 years that the rain-ravaged Gwalior-Chambal region is facing. Bridges near the Ratangarh Mata Temple and Sankua in the area were damaged and many people got stranded,” a state official quoted chief minister Chouhan as saying during a meeting earlier in the day.

    Chouhan spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the morning.

    The prime minister assured all possible help to the state, officials said.

    The CM also spoke with Union Home Minister Amit Shah who said the Centre will send an advance team to assess the damage, officials said.

    Vice President Venkaiah Naidu also called Chouhan to enquire about the flood situation.

  • MP: Female cops help woman deliver baby in autorickshaw stuck on flooded road

    By PTI

    BHOPAL: Two policewomen on Thursday helped a pregnant woman safely deliver her baby in an autorickshaw which had got stuck on a flooded road in Suthalia town of Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh district, an official said.

    Sub-inspector Arundhati Rajawat and constable Itishree Rathore noticed the woman, who was in labour pain, in the autorickshaw which was not moving due to water-logging on the road caused by heavy rains.

    ALSO READ | IAF helicopter airlifts stuck Madhya Pradesh home minister from flood-hit Datia, Congress unhappy

    Realising the woman will not be able to reach hospital in time for medical assistance, they immediately called a nurse and all three rushed to the spot, the official said.

    The policewomen and the nurse helped the woman safely deliver her child, a boy, in the three-wheeler, the official said.

    Once water level on the road receded, the woman and the newborn were taken to a community health centre for treatment and care, he said.

    The heart-warming incident was widely discussed on social media with people praising the women cops for their prompt action and humanitarian gesture.

  • MP: Two dead as rains pound many areas; defence aircraft launch rescue ops in 3 flood-hit villages

    By PTI
    BHOPAL: Defence aircraft on Monday launched rescue operations to evacuate people stranded in some flooded villages in Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh as heavy rains continued to lash large parts of the state, especially Shivpuri and neighbouring Sheopur districts, leaving two people dead, officials said.

    In Sheopur, Deeraj Gurjar (45) drowned in an open water-filled pit while visiting a temple, Karahal sub-divisional magistrate Brijender Singh Yadav said.

    In Shivpuri town, a 50-year-old Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM), identified as Sumanlata Joshi, died due to electrocution when an electric current ran into her flooded house in the Kamlaganj area, a police officer said.

    Torrential rains continue to pound the two districts in the night.

    Nearly 60 people, who were stranded in a flooded building located near the Vijaypur bus stand in Sheopur district following heavy rains, were rescued after over seven hours by this noon.

    #WATCH | Madhya Pradesh: Sheopur district’s Vijaypur area flooded due to overflowing Parvati river and heavy rain. pic.twitter.com/cMpXfv33Pz
    — ANI (@ANI) August 2, 2021

    They had gone to Vijapur to attend a marriage on Sunday night, but got stuck as floodwaters entered the premises, officials said.

    “Four helicopters have reached the Shivpuri district to evacuate people from three flooded villages,” district collector Akshay Kumar Singh told PTI over the phone.

    Madhya Pradesh: Indian Air Force ALH-Dhruv helicopter carried out a rescue mission in the flood-affected areas in Shivpuri, earlier today pic.twitter.com/02cNBEp5cX
    — ANI (@ANI) August 2, 2021

    Meanwhile, the Met department on the third consecutive day on Monday issued red and orange alerts for 25 districts in Madhya Pradesh forecasting heavy to extremely heavy rainfall.

    The red alert predicted very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall, ranging between 115.6 to 204.5 mm or more and thundershowers accompanied by lightning strikes, at isolated places in eight districts namely Gwalior, Shivpuri, Guna, Ashok Nagar, Datia, Sheopur, Morena and Bhind.

    The red alert effectively means the situation might worsen in rain-battered Shivpuri and Sheopur districts.

    Both the alerts are valid till Tuesday morning.

    The orange alert warning of heavy to very heavy rainfall, thundershowers and lightning strikes has been issued for isolated places in 17 districts including Bhopal, Raisen, Rajgarh, Sehore, Vidisha, Ujjain, Dewas, Ratlam, Shajapur, Agar-Malwa, Mandsaur and Neemuch, besides Chhatarpur, Tikamgarh, Sagar, Niwari and Hoshangabad.

    The Met department also forecasts rain or thunderstorms at most places in the districts falling under ten divisions including Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur.

    Shivpuri and Sheopur received 117 mm or 11 cm and 115 mm or 11 cm rainfall, respectively, in the last 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Monday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

    Rivers, drains and other water bodies are in full spate in Sheopur and Shivpuri districts, officials said, adding many water bodies are overflowing in large parts of Madhya Pradesh.

    Several areas of Sheopur, located around 400 km from the state capital Bhopal, were inundated after the Parvati river breached its banks following heavy showers.

    Heavy rains pounded Vijaypur tehsil in the district.

    Guna’s Barod area received the highest 286 mm rainfall in west MP in the 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Monday, the IMD said.

    Intermittent rains have been lashing most parts of the state since Sunday, it said.

    The IMD’s Bhopal office on Monday received reports of waterlogging in low-lying areas of various cities in the state.

    Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is monitoring the flood situation in Shivpuri, the CMO said, adding the state government had requested Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for the deployment of five helicopters.

    “The well-marked low-pressure area over south-west Uttar Pradesh and adjoining north-west MP persists.

    It is likely to move westwards gradually during the next two days,” senior meteorologist PK Saha said when asked about the cause of heavy rains in MP.

  • Madhya Pradesh rains: Rewa, Satna bear the brunt, people moved to safety in some areas

    By PTI
    BHOPAL: Some 300 people from Tyonthar area of Rewa district in Madhya Pradesh had to be moved to safety on Sunday after incessant rains caused flooding, officials said.

    Rewa Superintendent of Police Rakesh Singh confirmed the development and said water had started receding in some places after the rains stopped for some time.

    In Satna district, one man was missing and another rescued while crossing a bridge over a water body in a tractor amid heavy rains in Patora village under Kotar police station limits, Superintendent of Police Dharmveer Singh told PTI.

    Vijay Parihar (18) had been rescued while Atul Mishra (23) was missing, he informed.

    The SP said a road connecting Birsinghpur in Satna to Semaria in Rewa had to be shut for traffic after water from Mau river started flowing above the bridges in the vicinity.

    Sub Inspector Raj Singh Rawat of Bhopal-based MP Police state situation room said a village in Chitrakoot in Satna district was flooded and evacuation work was underway.

    As of 7:40 pm, no loss of life had been reported from any part of the state due to the rains, Sub Inspector Rawat said.

    Earlier in the day, the India Meteorological Department had issued an orange alert for heavy to very heavy rainfall in the range of 64.5 millimetres to 204.4 mm for Rewa and Satna.

    The IMD said Rewa and Satna received 153.4 mm and 102.8 mm rainfall respectively in a 36-hour period till 5:30 pm on Sunday.