MP: Heavy rain alert for 23 districts

The IMD on Thursday evening also issued a yellow alert forecasting heavy rainfall in 17 other districts.Rain-related incidents have claimed two lives in the state so far, officials said, adding that food packets were airdropped in the flood-ravaged areas of Gwalior and Chambal divisions.An orange alert warning of rains ranging from 64.5 to 204.4 mm in 24 hours at isolated places was issued for the districts of Rajgarh, Shajapur, Agar-Malwa, Mandsaur, Guna and Ashok Nagar.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday issued an `orange' alert forecasting `heavy to very heavy' rainfall in six districts of Madhya Pradesh even as Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the state had not seen such devastation in the last 70 years. The IMD on Thursday evening also issued a `yellow alert' forecasting `heavy' rainfall in 17 other districts.

Rain-related incidents have claimed two lives in the state so far, officials said, adding that food packets were airdropped in the flood-ravaged areas of Gwalior and Chambal divisions.

An orange alert warning of rains ranging from 64.5 to 204.4 mm in 24 hours at isolated places was issued for the districts of Rajgarh, Shajapur, Agar-Malwa, Mandsaur, Guna and Ashok Nagar. The yellow alert forecast of rainfall ranging from 64.5 to 115.5 mm at isolated places was issued for Sheopur, Morena, Bhind, Neemuch, Shivpuri, Gwalior, Datia, Vidisha, Raisen, Sehore, Hoshangabad, Dhar, Dewas, Narsinghpur, Tikamgarh, Niwari and Sagar. Both the alerts are valid till Friday morning, said P K Saha, senior meteorologist, IMD, Bhopal. Gwalior and Chambal divisions comprise the districts of Gwalior, Shivpuri, Guna, Ashok Nagar, Datia, Sheopur, Morena and Bhind in north Madhya Pradesh. A rain-related death each was reported from Shivpuri and Sheopur districts. An air operation had been started to rescue people in the flood-hit Bhind district and Karera in Shivpuri district.

“The state has not seen such devastation in the last 70 years that the rain-ravaged Gwalior-Chambal region is facing. Bridges near the Ratangarh Mata Temple and Sankua in the area were damaged and many people got stranded in those areas,” a state official said, quoting chief minister Chouhan.

On Wednesday night, 57 people were rescued from Kali Pahadi in Shivpuri district while 13 people were rescued from Teela area in Shivpuri, officials said.

Chouhan also spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the morning. The prime minister assured all possible help to the state, officials said.

The CM also spoke with Union Home Minister Amit Shah who said the Centre will send an advance team to assess the damage, officials said.

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu also called Chouhan to enquire about the flood situation and relief operations.

Food packets were being dropped from aircraft in various inundated areas including 13 locations in Sheopur, officials said.

The chief minister also chaired a meeting in the morning at his official residence to review the flood situation.

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