250,000 people evacuated as heavy rains lash Bengal

Heavy rain prompted the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) to release huge amount of water from the barrages over the past few days

Around 250,000 people were rescued and moved to shelters after a flood-like situation in six districts in south Bengal after water was released from barrages and dams due to heavy rains in the state and its neighbouring areas, state officials said on Monday.

Locals use boats to cross the waterlogged street due to flooding of rivers in Ghatal on Monday. ANI

“We have shifted around 2.5 lakh people to rescue shelters in Hooghly, Howrah, Purba Bardhaman, Pashchim Bardhaman, West Midnapore, and South 24 Parganas districts. Over one lakh tarpaulin, around 1,000 MT of rice, thousands of drinking water pouches and clothes have been sent to the rescue shelters,” a senior state government official said.

Indian Air Force choppers were deployed at Khanakul in Hooghly district to rescue people, the official quoted above added.

A low pressure, which triggered rains, heavy rains in south Bengal last week moved in the northwest direction across Jharkhand and southern parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh triggering rain in the adjoining districts, said a senior official of India Meteorological Department’s regional weather forecasting centre (RWFC) in Kolkata.

Heavy rain prompted the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) to release huge amount of water from the barrages over the past few days, said a senior DVC official.