BHOPAL: With rescue operations gathering momentum after two days of heavy rains in large parts of Madhya Pradesh, over 2,400 people hit by floods in various districts were rescued and shifted to safer places.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan conducted an aerial survey of the flood-affected villages in Vidisha, Raisen, Guna, Rajgarh, Sehore, Sagar and Bhopal districts, and boarded an NDRF boat in a village in Vidisha and rescued people from there.
The NDRF, SDRF and state home guards teams rescued over 1,200-1,500 from Vidisha district. Most of them have been accommodated in 18 relief camps. Besides them, 4,200 others who were living in areas where the rivers have a threatening current, have been shifted to safer places.
Following the urgent request by the state government, the Indian Air Force also swung into action, deploying two medium-lift MI17 V5 helicopters from Nagpur into action in the worst-hit 10 villages of Vidisha district.
The helicopters particularly succeeded in airlifting 28 villagers who were taking shelter on the terraces of houses in Muthiyakheda-Gadla village of Vidisha district.
Over 500 people have also been shifted to shelter camps in the Rajgarh district.
Meanwhile, all major rivers, including Narmada, Chambal, Parvati, Kshipra and Shivana are in spate in various parts of the state. All major dams have been overflowing, due to which most gates were opened to release excess water.
“Extensive damage has been caused to the road and electricity infrastructure in many parts of central MP. Bhopal, Vidisha, Rajgarh, Guna, Raisen, Sehore, Narmadapuram, and Jabalpur have broken all previous records in the central and eastern parts of the state due to continuous rain in the last 48 hours,” Chouhan said.
“Rivers are flowing above the danger mark at many places. Water logging exists in some villages. We’re right now focusing on saving lives by rescuing flood-affected people. Next, we will start ascertaining the damage to roads and culverts as well as power substations, many of which remain submerged. The work on repairing the damaged infrastructure will be taken up on war footing,” he added.
Major rivers, such as the Narmada in Nemawar, Parvati in Guna district, Shivana in Mandsaur district and Kshipra in Ujjain, have been rising. The rain fury moved westwards towards Rajasthan, hampering normal life in districts of Ujjain division, including Ujjain, Mandsaur, Neemuch and Ratlam on Tuesday.
In Guna district, the flooded Parvati river started flowing over the railway tracks on the bridge, forcing the diversion of all the trains on Indore and Ujjain route through Nishatpura (Bhopal).
Rescue operations underway
After wreaking havoc in central and eastern MP, rain has moved westwards towards Rajasthan and west MP.
Over 2,400 people rescued from villages of rain-flood hit Vidisha, Raisen, Sehore, Rajgarh and Sagar districts.
Over 1,800 rescued people shifted to shelter camps, particularly in Vidisha and Rajgarh districts.
4,200 people living in areas where rivers are in spate shifted to safer places.
25 villages in Vidisha and Guna districts are the worst hit.
IAF helicopters airlifted 29 people stranded on terraces.