Torrential rains over the last two days triggered flooding in several districts of Madhya Pradesh, including Hoshangabad, where the Army and the NDRF were roped in today to rescue people from inundated areas, officials said.
Sehore and Chhindwara districts also continue to be lashed by heavy rains, which sent water bodies in these regions into spate, they said.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan conducted an aerial survey of the inundated areas of Hoshangabad and Sehore districts and the hailstorm-hit parts along the Narmada river for one-and-a-half hours on Saturday, officials said.
Hoshangabad received 208 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours ending 8.30 am Saturday. In the same period, the famous hill station of Pachmarhi in Hoshangabad district and Chhindwara received 228 mm and 142 mm downpour respectively, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
Due to flooding, several people reportedly got stranded at different places, especially in Hoshangbad and Sehore districts.
Hoshangabad divisional commissioner Rajnish Shrivastava said that the Army has been called in to help the district administration to effectively deal with the flood situation.
"Two teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have already reached and started helping Hoshangabad district administration. The Army is likely to reach shortly, he added. Following heavy rains, the water level of the Narmada river in Hoshangabad district has gone above 978 metres as against the primary danger level of 964 metres. Many areas in Hoshangabad city were flooded with up to six to eight feet of water," he added.
"The rural areas in the district are also facing a similar situation, which is why we had to call the Army," he added.
Due to the downpour, sluice gates of several dams across the state have been opened to release water, officials said.
Meanwhile, the IMD issued a red alert of extremely heavy rainfall with thunderstorm and lightning at isolated places of Chhindwara, Vidisha, Sehore, Rajgarh and Shajapur districts.
It also issued an orange alert warning that very heavy rainfall and thunderstorm with lightning is likely at isolated places of 17 districts, including Bhopal and Indore besides Hoshangabad division. Its yellow alert said that heavy rainfall is likely at a few places in four districts including Guna and Shivpuri. The alerts will remain in place till Sunday morning.
