Ranchi, June 19: Heavy rainfall across Jharkhand left four people, including two schoolboys and a 10-year-old girl, dead in three places, besides causing infrastructural damage in several districts, officials said on Thursday.
As rain continued to lash various parts of the state, two kutcha houses, a bridge, an abandoned residential building and a portion of an airport wall collapsed in different districts. No casualty was reported in these incidents.
Several rivers were also in spate.
The bodies of two boys, aged nine and 10, were recovered from under the debris of a collapsed under-construction well in Khunti district on Thursday, more than 22 hours after they had been trapped there.
The incident occurred around 2 pm on Wednesday at Murhu panchayat in Murhu police station limits, when the children were playing near the well that gave way due to heavy rain.
A team from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was deployed for the operation, Khunti Deputy Commissioner R Ronita told PTI.
The bodies were found around 12.30 pm on Thursday.
In a separate incident, a 10-year-old girl died when her mud house collapsed amid heavy rainfall in Murpa village in Tamar police station area of Ranchi district.
She was alone in the house at the time, police said.
A woman was killed and her three children suffered injuries after their kucha house collapsed on Thursday due to incessant rain in Kulitotang village in West Singhbhum district, a police officer said.
The body has been recovered and sent for post-mortem examination, the officer said adding that the injured children were taken to a hospital in Chakradharpur.
A portion of a bridge over the Banai River in Khunti’s Torpa area also collapsed, disrupting traffic on the Khunti-Simdega road.
A diversion has been created and NDRF teams are on site.
A portion of the boundary wall of Sonari airport in Jamshedpur collapsed due to incessant rain, officials said.
Rain has continued to lash several districts including Ranchi, Seraikela-Kharsawan, and East Singhbhum, affecting normal life.
Schools in affected areas, including Ranchi and Khunti, were closed on Thursday as a precautionary measure by the administration.
In Seraikela-Kharsawan, an abandoned residential building owned by Tayo Rolls, a Tata Steel subsidiary, collapsed on Thursday morning in Gamharia.
The building had been vacated earlier and declared unsafe, Tata Steel said in a statement.
An alert has been issued in Jamshedpur due to the rising water levels of the Kharkhai and Swarnarekha rivers, which are flowing above the danger levels.
The Swarnarekha River was flowing at 122.70 metres against the danger mark of 121.50 metres. The water level of the Kharkai River was recorded at 131.950 metres against the red mark of 129 metres.
The East Singhbhum district administration has urged residents in low-lying areas to remain vigilant.
A red alert for extremely heavy rainfall has been issued for Ranchi, Lohardaga, Gumla, Khunti, and Simdega districts, according to Ranchi Meteorological Centre Deputy Director Abhishek Anand.
A low-pressure system over northeast Jharkhand is expected to intensify rainfall in the coming hours, he added.
The Weather Department sounded a flash flood risk warning for several districts such as Bokaro, Hazaribagh, Khunti, Ramgarh, Latehar, Lohardaga, Gumla, Ranchi, Saraikela, Simdega and West Singhbhum.
Rainwater gushed into houses in several low-lying areas in Ranchi including Bahu Bazar.
Heavy rain also led to waterlogging on several prominent roads in Ranchi and other districts. (PTI)
