At least seven persons have died in Jharkhand since Friday afternoon in incidents triggered by incessant rainfall.

Low-lying areas have been submerged and roads waterlogged in different parts of the state.

A 40-year-old villager identified as Subhash Hembrom was swept away in the strong current of the Subernarekha river on Friday afternoon when he went to take a bath in Hatia under Jagannathpur police station of Ranchi. An NDRF team has been pressed into service to trace his body.

In Latehar district, brothers Shankar, 10, and Monuwa Oraon, 6, died and their parents were critically injured after the mud wall of their house in Kuldaga village under Manika police station collapsed in the heavy rain on Friday night. Father Sohrai Oraon, 41, and mother Chinta Devi, 38, were admitted to the Sadar Hospital in critical condition.

In Jamtara district, three persons lost their lives after the car they were travelling in fell off a bridge on the Narayanpur-Karmatand main road into the Loharangi river under Narayanpur police station on Friday night. Police on Saturday said the driver who was speeding failed to notice the water-filled potholes on the bridge and lost control and the vehicle plunged into the river.

The deceased are Sourav Suman, 28, Avinash Singh, 25, and Sitanshu Nayan, 30, while another occupant Ranu Singh managed to swim to safety. Police said the passengers were going to Bhagalpur in Bihar after buying the second-hand car in Ranchi when the mishap happened.

In Giridih district, Surajlal Murmu, 38, of Beldih village under Gandey police station died on Friday night after his thatched hut collapsed in the heavy rain. Police recovered his body on Saturday morning after villagers informed about the incident.

Hatia MLA (in cheque shirt) Naveen Jaiswal at Argora Road along Harmy bypass (VIP road) in Ranchi on Saturday. Telegraph picture

Disaster management minister Banna Gupta on Saturday asked the department’s secretary to direct all district heads to send a damage assessment report at the earliest so that compensation can be disbursed to affected families.

“I have asked the secretary (Amitabh Kaushal) to direct all the 24 deputy commissioners to send a damage assessment report to the headquarters at the earliest. We will disburse the compensation at the earliest,” said Gupta.

Almost all the major rivers, including the Subernarekha, Kharkai and Damodar, were in spate with dam gates opened to release excess water.

Opening of two gates of the Bankabal Dam in neighbouring Mayurbhanj district of Odisha led to the water level in the Kharkai crossing the danger level which raised the threat of inundation of low-lying areas in Jamshedpur.

In state capital Ranchi, most of the important roads, including Argora-Harmu Road, Ratu Road and Kanke Road, were waterlogged, while basements and parking spaces of several residential apartments were submerged.

Congress spokesperson Alok Kumar Dubey blamed Ranchi BJP legislator and former urban development minister C.P. Singh for the waterlogging.

“During the tenure of the erstwhile Raghubar Das government, more than Rs 400 crore was spent on building drains and sewage system. But all drains are overflowing which shows that there was only mismanagement of government funds in the name of urban infrastructure projects. We demand a high-level probe into the projects,” said Dubey.