Madhya Pradesh flooded after rivers reach record highs- thousands stranded

Excessive rainfall has triggered floods in North Madhya Pradesh, reeling over 1225 villages. The grim situation has taken the lives of at least 15 people and have caused havoc in North Madhya Pradesh adverse affecting and flooding everything that comes along the way. It is estimated that around 1,225 villages in Shivpuri, Datia, Gwalior, Guna, Bhind and Morena districts have been caught in the raging floodwaters. Moreover, thousands of vehicles and trucks were left stranded due to collapsing bridges. A crack emerged on a bridge over National Highway 3, so it has been closed as a precaution. Meanwhile, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that Army, BSF, NDRF and SDRF teams have been scrambled for rescue operations across the state. Five bridges have so far collapsed making it impossible for people to transport to safer places. A total of 5,800 people have been shifted to safer places, so far, as tweeted by the CM. The chief minister said that he is constantly monitoring the flood situation in the state and necessary rescue operations are taken for saving as many lives as possible. The chief minister also said that he has discussed the MP flood situation and rescue operation details with the Prime Minister. Chouhan told PM Modi that the state government is facing trouble in connecting with Sheopur people because of the disruptions in mobile towers due to floods. The railway line between Gwalior to Guna has also been impacted. Three teams of NDRF have reached Gwalior, the worst affected place, and two teams have been deployed at Shivpuri for the rescue operations. One column of the Army has been mobilized each for Gwalior, Datia, Shivpuri, and Sheopur districts which were adversely affected by floods. Army has already recused 17 people trapped in Datia Pali’s village and 20 people from Kali Pahari of Shivpuri. The Indian Air Force has started rescue operations in the flood-impacted villages in the state. Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra visited flood-affected areas in the Datia district of the state on Wednesday. Unfortunately, he himself got stuck and had to be airlifted from there. He set out on a boat on August 4 when he got information about 9 people trapped in the floods in Kotra village in his assembly constituency of Datia. Along with relief workers, the minister reached the stranded people. But before arrangements could be made to rescue the people there, a tree broke and fell on Narottam Mishra’s boat. After that, the motor of the boat would not start, officials said. He then had to send messages to government officials and an Air Force helicopter arrived to rescue him and nine others stranded at the spot. He has also visited other flood-affected villages in the district to supervise relief work post heavy rains. The mobile towers and communication lines are closed at some places in the Sheopur district due to heavy floods. The Gwalior Guna railway track is also closed. On Sunday, the India Meteorological Department had issued a ‘red alert’ for 10 districts in Madhya Pradesh — — Gwalior, Shivpuri, Guna, Ashok Nagar, Datia, Sheopur, Morena, Bhind, Neemuch and Mandsaur. The IMD had also sounded an ‘orange alert’ for 16 other districts — Bhopal, Rewa, Sidhi, Satna, Singrauli, Sagar, Chhatarpur, Damoh, Panna, Tikamgarh, Raisen, Rajgarh, Sehore, Vidisha, Agar-Malwa.