Father-daughter swept away in raging Mahanadi river in Mahasamund

RAIPUR: As the flood situation worsened in districts of Mahasamund, Bilaspur, Janjgir, Raigarh and Balod due to incessant rains in Chhattisgarh in the past 48 hours, with thousands of people being evacuated to safe areas, two people, including a minor, were feared washed away in the raging waters of Mahanadi River near on Jok Bridge in Mahasamund on Wednesday.Nearly 700 villages in these districts have been reportedly marooned.
The accident at Jok Bridge, 90 kms from district headquarters, occurred in the morning when two motorbikes coming from opposite directions collided. Eyewitnesses claimed that a child, who was riding pillion to his father, slipped and fell into the water due to the impact of the collision and was swept away.
In a bid to save her, the father also jumped into the raging waters and both of them were washed away. Their identities were not known immediately. Confirming the incident, Mahasamund additional collector, Onkar Yadu said efforts were on to trace the father-son duo and it was still not confirmed ;whether they were dead or alive. He said the water level in Mahanadi river had risen due to continuous rains and release of water from Gangrel dam and residents staying in low-lying areas had been alerted.
Janjgir collector, OP Choudhary said the situation had worsened in some areas.
Chaoudhry said connectivity between Raipur and Janjgir via Shivri Narayan and Raigarh-Sarangarh-Chandrapur-Raipur had been cut. He said the administration had made arrangements of speedboats to deal with any emergency.
Collector, Bilaspur, Siddharth Komal Pardeshi, said, "We have shifted 50 families from Mastoori block. Connectivity in some areas lost due to landslide and water-logging was reported in several areas. However the situation is well under control."
Raigarh collector, Mukesh Bansal said that nearly 15 villages were flooded and almost 3000 people ha ve been shifted to relief camps. He said due to release of water from Gangrel and Hasdeo Dams water level has increased in Mahanadi.
Additional collector, Durg, KK Agarwal, said many villages had been disconnected from the district headquarter due to flooding. He said besides rains, release of water from dams had led to rise in water levels in the rivers. He said over 100 people have been shifted to camps.
RP Jain, Commissioner, Bastar division, said though the situation is under control, water level in Indrawati River had crossed the danger mark in the morning.
Even in Raipur, rains threw life out of gear, as several low-lying areas were flooded. Water entered the Naya Para are, forcing evacuation of over 200 people to makeshift camps. Talking to TOI, Thakur Ram Singh, Collector Raipur, said primarily the low lying areas in the city had borne the brunt of the heavy rainfalls.
With the met department predicting, "moderate rains to thundershowers" in parts of the state in the next 24 hours, the flood situation might not see any major changes. However, the met department's "outlook" for the later part of the week predicts "increased in rainfall activity" from Aug 10.