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Punjab continued to face the wrath of heavy monsoon showers, with reports of at least two people drowning in Nawanshahr, a family being rescued from a village in Ludhiana, and nearly 4-5 feet of river water entering the premises of Punjab Police Training Academy in Jalandhar surfacing on Monday
Punjab had received at least 149.33 mm of rainfall in the last 48 hours — between July 8 and July 10 — which records showed was the highest in at least one decade. Punjab usually receives around 169.4 mm of rainfall for the month of July. Sources said that the state was unlikely to get any respite anytime soon, with a huge amount of water being released in the Sutlej river from the Ropar headwork, leading to a potentially floodlike situation.
As per details, one of the persons who drowned on Monday was identified as one Vijay Kumar (18), a resident of Bholewal village in Balachaur sub-division. The second missing youth was yet-to-be-identified, but police believe that he may have been a resident of Rahon area, which comes under Nawanshahr subdivision.
Deputy Commissioner of Nawanshahr, Navjot Singh Randhawa, termed the drownings as tragic and said that the incident had taken place reportedly due to the carelessness of the two youths who ignored the heavy flow of water in the Sutlej river while deciding to take a bath in it. Randhawa urged the locals, especially the youths, to be more careful and avoid potential misadventures when a flood-like situation persisted in the area.
Elsewhere, in Jalandhar a breach was reported in the ‘Dhussi Bandh’ (a temporary embankment along the river) near Phillaur, causing water from the Sutlej river to gush into the Punjab Police Training Academy, in Phillaur, on Monday morning. Officials said that around 4-5 feet of river water submerged at least a dozen vehicles that were parked near the Golf Ground, with several jawans later being put on duty to pull out these vehicles and drive them to a higher place.
Some areas in the vicinity of Dhussi Bandh also saw water entering households after the breach, with residents of the area stating that they were living on their toes under a threat of flood.
Around 3.08 lakh cusecs water was flowing in Sutlej river near Phillaur Railway Bridge — towards Gidderpindi railway bridge — in the morning, reports stated. The water level came down to 2.45 lakh cusecs in the evening at around 5:00 pm.
Officials monitoring the situation said that around 1.50 lakh cusecs of water has been released from Ropar headworks to the downstream of the river. Additionally, there are several local nullahs and rivulets along the way that were feeding additional water to the river as it travels from Ropar to Jalandhar, with the water being measured at 2.45 lakh cusecs near Phillaur.
According to the drainage department, the river can only carry around 70,000 to 90,000 cusecs of water at a time. Officials from the Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Nawanshahr district administrations, meanwhile, have already swung into action, evacuating villages where floods can hit. Most of these villages are located inside the “Dhussi Bandh”, or near the river bed. Some are situated close to the embankment, on the opposite side of the riverbed.
More heavy rainfall predicted
Meanwhile, a warning of heavy rain has been issued again by the Indian Meteorological Department, Chandigarh Centre, on Monday afternoon in the areas of Chandigarh, Patiala, Mohali, Ambala, Panchkula. Moderate rain is also expected in Fatehgarh Sahib, Rupnagar, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Chaggar, Mahendragarh, Mewat, Palwal, Panipat, and Rewari.
According to the IMD, Chandigarh has already received 530 mm of rain since July 8 morning till July 10, which is almost twice the amount of rain that the UT receives for the entire month of July usually.
In Punjab, the situation continued to be critical. In Bullowal Saunkri in Nawanshahr, Balachaur, Nawanshahr, Ropar, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, and Gurdaspur, the rainfall received in the past 24 hours has been recorded at 201.2 mm, 198.5 mm, 180.8 mm, 176.5 mm, 134.7 mm, and 69.5 mm, respectively — which is very high.
The level of Pong Dam on Beas river has been rising consistently, with at least an 18 feet hike in the water level of the dam being witnessed in the past 48 hours.
As per details, the water level of the dam was at 1337. 70 feet on July 8 (Saturday). On Monday evening, the smae had swelled to 1355.40 feet. Nearly 2.67 lakh cuses of water had been released into the Pong dam, but no water has been released downstream so far.The Beas river was carrying around 40,900 cusecs of water near Beas at Dilwan Railway bridge.
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