1,000 villagers evacuated in East Singhbhum district

With the forecast of heavy to very heavy rains, over 1,000 villagers were evacuated today from Ghatsila subdivision in Jharkhand's East Singhbhum district, while low-lying areas here were inundated by heavy downpour.
The Swarnarekha and Kharkhai rivers were flowing above danger mark of 119 metre and 129 metre following rains lashing the district since early morning as a fallout of Cyclone 'Phailin', Sub-divisional Officer (Ghatsila) Amit Kumar told PTI here.
Over 1,000 residents from five inundated villages situated between Musaboni and Dumaria in the catchment area of Swarnarekha were moved to two camps, Kumar said.
Access to the villages was hit as water was flowing over the lone over bridge.

He said that relief was being provided to the villagers and CRPF personnel were assisting the district administration.
A team of the National Disaster Response Force was to arrive soon as trees and electricity poles were uprooted, but there was no casualty, Kumar said.

Over 50 families residing in the Uranium Corporation of India Limited township of Jadugora, about 30 km from here, were affected by increase in water level in the Gahra Nullah, a tributary of Swarnarekha.
The ground floor of the UCIL quarters was inundated and steps were being taken to shift the families and give them food packets, UCIL sources said.

The UCIL has set up a relief camp in the township and kept two boats and two trucks ready for evacuating the people.
Around 40 houses situated in the catchment area of river Kharkhai in Bagbera were also submerged while several families in Azadnagar, Mango and Shatrinagar areas were affected, Dalbhum Sub-divisional Officer Prem Ranjan said.
Met office sources forecast heavy to very heavy rain accompanied by a gale with a speed of 60 to 70 kmph for the next 48 hours in some places in Jharkhand.