Let up in rain fury in Patna, death toll increases to 25 in Bihar

Speed Post News Network

Patna : There was let up in rainfall in Patna since September 29, 2019, evening, though most parts of the Bihar capital still remains submerged following heavy downpour for the last four days. The death toll, meanwhile, mounted to 25 on September 30, 2019, After being pounded by heavy rain over the weekend, most parts of the Bihar capital remained submerged even as the state-wide death toll mounted to 25 across the state including six in Gaya District.

Six casualties have been reported from Gaya district where five persons were buried alive in a wall collapse while another person was drowned in a river in spate because of incessant rains, according to State Disaster Management Department.
Police in the adjoining Jehanabad district confirmed the death of a three-year-old girl who was crushed to death when the wall of an old house, adjacent to a street where she was playing, collapsed. On September 29, 18 deaths were reported from across the state in mishaps attributed to the torrential rain.

The Disaster Management Department said that the state government has urged the Indian Air Force to send a helicopter for air-dropping of food packets and other relief material in marooned areas. Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi, whose own residence in Rajendranagar, Patna, was affected by the rain, was seen doing the rounds of the city clad in a T-shirt and shorts and issuing instructions to officials.
Patna District administration has ordered closure of all schools till October 1 as a preventive measure and warned of strict punishment to those who violated the direction. DM Kumar Ravi has said that sump houses were working round the clock to flush out water from inundated streets and pointed out that “a not too high” water level in the Ganga meant that there would be no problem of reverse flow.
Motorcyclists were seen driving through knee-deep waters after covering the silencers of their two-wheelers with plastic bottles and pipes inserted to allow emission of fumes without water entering the exhaust pipes.
Patna Nagar Nigam (PMC) personnel, donning yellow raincoats, were seen at various spots trying to unclog the manholes that have been choked by polythene and debris.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar had spoken to P K Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, on September 21, 2019, urging him to take steps to check the water level in the Ganges here which had then risen to alarming levels. More than a million cusecs of water were subsequently released through the Farakka barrage downstream. Social media has been abuzz with the heart-rending image of a rickshaw-puller who broke down upon being caught in chest-deep water, unable to pull out the vehicle on which he depended for a living.