The state government has asked south Bengal districts to evacuate 5 lakh people from lower Damodar areas by Friday morning, fearing floods in the next 24 hours amid downpour in the catchment area of Durgapur Barrage since Wednesday.

As much as 350mm rainfall occurred in 12 hours in Durgapur Barrage’s catchment area.

“Durgapur Barrage released 2.6 lakh cusecs of water on Thursday evening. This is huge and could inundate a large part of East and West Burdwan, Hooghly and Howrah (lower Damodar areas). In August, when parts of Hooghly and Howrah were inundated, 1.53 lakh cusec water had been released from Durgapur Barrage,” said a government official.

“So far, 3.5 lakh people have been evacuated in Howrah, Hooghly, East and West Burdwan,” added an official.

The state government also decided to deploy the army in the lower Damodar areas.

Bankura district, including the town, was cut off from Durgapur, Jhargram and Ranibandh. Durgapur’s link with Bankura snapped as Bankura-Durgapur state highway went under water with river Shali crossing danger level. Bankura-Jhargram state highway was submerged as river Shilabati flowed over the bridge.

Several wards of Bankura town were inundated after water from river Gandheswari flooded those pockets. District magistrate K. Radhika Aiyar issued a red alert for people in the Damodar basin areas like Mejia, Barjora, Sonamukhi and Saltora. Aiyar said around 10,000 people had to be evacuated and sent to 125 relief centres. At least 10 teams of the SDRF have been deployed in Bankura.

A severe flood would harm kharif cultivation, said an official. Sowing of paddy has been completed in the state. The districts along the lower Damodar area are farm belts.

“If kharif crop is hit in Hooghly and East Burdwan, the state’s rice production would be hit badly. This is worrying in the backdrop of the pandemic as nearly 72 lakh families depend on kharif cultivation,” said a senior official.

Heavy rain in Jharkhand may force Massanjore dam to release water by Friday, compounding Bengal’s problems.

“As Jharkhand saw heavy rain, water level in Ajay and other rivers like Hinglo and Mayurakshi in Birbhum rose. We have evacuated 12,000 people from riverside areas of five blocks,” said Bidhan Roy, the Birbhum district magistrate.

Tree shelter

In East Burdwan’s Ausgram, three persons climbed a tree in the middle of Ajay’s riverbed on Thursday afternoon when water level of the river increased suddenly after 1.56 cusec water was released from Shikatia dam in Jharkhand. They could not be rescued till late on Thursday.

The administration planned to send a team of NDRF to rescue them when this report was filed.

“A boat of the disaster management team returned following a failed rescue bid. We are sending an NDRF team,” said Arindam Mukherjee, block development officer of Ausgram I.