Incessant rains for the last 24 hours -which touched a record 164 mm till 11 pm night, capital city Agartala and several other districts witnessed unprecedented flood and waterlogging situation. The situation of Agartala main city and suburban areas were almost devastating as chest deep water flowed through the city roads bringing all activities to a standstill.
Added to the woes were frequent loadshedding for hours that sent large parts of the city under darkness.
Administration asked the people to remain alert as the heavy to very rains would continue tomorrow and the situation might worsen.
Chieef Minister Dr Manik Saha personally monitored the situation and asked people to remain alert as there would be no let up in the rains.
Officials said, DM West Tripura, SDM Sadar, Fire & Emergency Services and AMC with active involvement of NDRF, SDRF, Police, CD Volunteers, Aapda Mitra Volunteers are carrying out rescue and relief operation simultaneously. As of now 7 Relief Camps have been opened and rescued people are taking shelter. Water level in the rivers are showing rising trend wherein Howrah river in Agartala city and Juri river in Dharmanagar are flowing above warning level.
As many as 6 teams in Agartala city have been engaged for rescue operation. Out of them, 3 teams from CD Volunteers, 1 team from Fire & ES, 1 from SDRF and 1 from NDRF. Adequate boats and critical equipments are available with the District, Sub-divisions, TSR Bns, Fire Services and NDRF which are being used by the teams for search and rescue purposes. So far, seven Relief Camps have been opened and rescued people are taking shelter. The name of the relief camps were set up at Radhamadhab Mandir, Radhanagar, Indranagar School, Gitarban Community Hall, Kasmali School, Rishi Colony, Mulapara School, Ramnagar, Daspara Anadi School, Pratapgarh School, SDM Sadar also identified Maharani Tulsibati School to be one of the relief camps.
A school bus belonging to the Auxilium school with children got stuck in the waist deep water in the city even as the Fire service personnel came to pick up the students to bring them safer areas.
Most of the roads in Agartala went under chest deep water causing disruption in normal traffic. According to reports pouring in from various places, the rain water also entered many of the households in the urban as well as semi urban areas. Water has entered in almost all business establishments and offices located in the city. Sakuntala Road.Orient Chowmuhani, Ganraj Chowmuhani, Ker Chowmuhani, Bidurkarta Chowmuhani, RMS Chowmuhani, Battala areas, Paradise Chowmuhani , Melarmath –in almost all city localities got submerged.
The IMD, Agartala centre predicted more rainfall accompanied by thunderstorm and lightning all over the state till June 18.
Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha took stock of the situation from Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC), Indranagar.
The Chief Minister passed an instruction to the administration for taking all possible preparations as the IMD issued an warning of heavy to very heavy rainfall across the state along with thunderstorm and lightning till June 21.
He asked the people of the state to stay alert and take assistance from the administration in case of any emergency.
As heavy rains lashed parts of Tripura, the farmers are likely to suffer a huge loss.
Meanwhile, South Tripura district administration has opened emergency helpline number and asked the people to contact in case of any emergency.
“As per IMD weather forecast, there is a chance for heavy rainfall in most of the places in the district for today and tomorrow. In case of any help or emegency [sic] please contact district emergency operation centre 6909358819/ 222 046,” the District Magistrate of South Tripura wrote on official Facebook handle.
