The whiplash of unseasonal heavy rain caused a 25-year-old bridge in Chatra, already weakened by a glut of heavy vehicles, to cave in on Saturday.

One of the pillars of Geruwa bridge, around 30km from Chatra district headquarters, 55km from Hazaribagh, and 82km from capital Ranchi, caved in around 10.30am, tilting half the bridge downwards.

A biker on bridge who had reached its mid-point felt the bridge sink.

As news spread, the district administration stopped all movement on the bridge.

Geruwa bridge is known as lifeline of industrial city Tandwa in Chatra. Tandwa, which became an industrial hub recently, has coal mines of Central Coalfields and a thermal power plant of NTPC.

As the bridge collapsed, Tandwa got disconnected from Chatra and Hazaribagh towns. Without the bridge, crossing the rain-fed Geruwa river is unlikely.

The 200-foot-long and 50-foot-high bridge, built in 1995 to bear a load of 50 tonnes, was pushed beyond capacity by heavy machines and coal-laden heavy vehicles, local sources said.

“Other than heavy vehicles of the NTPC, hundreds of coal trucks of various projects of CCL used to ply on this bridge every day. The condition of the bridge was already bad with potholes. Local Ajsu leaders launched agitations a number of times to get the bridge repaired but nothing was done. We are lucky that when the inevitable happened, there were no casualties.”

Simaria MLA Kishun Kumar Das said he had talked to NTPC and CCL to get the bridge repaired first and he was in talks with the district administration to figure out an immediate solution for connectivity. “Without the bridge, Tandwa is an island,” he said.

People, cattle die

In Hazaribagh, poor visibility due to rain led to five cars, one SUV and a truck dashing against each other on GT Road in Barkatha on Saturday afternoon. Dhananjay Gope, 65, of Dhanbad died in the pile-up.

Gobind Prasad Singh, 60, of Nawdeeha, 39km from Daltonganj, died on Saturday when a dilapidated part of the concrete roof of his house fell on him under the impact of heavy rain that lashed Palamau since Friday night. SDPO Sadar Sandip Kumar Gupta said: “The elderly man did not perhaps realise the roof was so weak.”

In Lawalong of Chatra district, 27 cattle, including cows and buffaloes, died in the rain on Saturday.

Rain wreaks havoc

Deafening rain and hailstorm woke up Hazaribagh around 1.30am on Saturday.

Each hailstone, weighing between 200gm and 250gm, damaged windscreens of cars, window panes of buildings, abestos sheds and standing crops. Priyanka Kumari, zilla parishad member from Katkamdag in the district, said standing crops of wheat and green vegetables were damaged beyond repair.

Water entered houses in low-lying areas and flooded roads.

Geeta Prasad, 73, of Okni Mohalla, said she did not remember seeing such heavy rain and hail in mid-March. “Our plight is worse as the town is plunged in darkness due to the DVC loadshedding.”