Nearly 500 mm rain in 72 hrs bring Ambala to its knees – Hindustan Times

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: With 493 mm of rain recorded in the last 72 hours, Ambala was at the receiving end as all the seasonal water bodies in the district breached banks, inundating residential areas, schools and offices and prompting the district authorities to call in the NDRF and army for relief and rescue operations.
A total of six seasonal water bodies, including Ghaggar, Markanada, Tangri, Beghna, SYL canal and Narwana branch, wreaked havoc in all sub-divisions of the district, with overflowed water entering residential areas, villages, offices, police stations and power feeder, forcing the authorities to shut electricity supply in several areas.
In view of the prevailing situation, deputy commissioner Shaleen told HT that three units of NDRF including 52 personal and two columns of army have been deployed at various locations to carry out relief operations.
He added that the situation is likely to worsen with the increase in water level at Tangri due to addition of over 8,000 cusecs of water in upper parts of the region and increase in water levels of Ghaggar that was already overflowing.
In the Cantonment, a rescue operation was carried out in areas along the Tangri River during midnight where around 50 affected residents were rescued through boats and taken to safer places by cops and locals in the presence of SDM (Cantt) Satinder Siwach and Ambala Cantt SHO Naresh Kumar.
In Mullana, members of the fire department, cops and locals rescued over 25 passengers using crane as a Himachal Road Transport Corporation bus fell on a side due to the heavy flow of Markanda River on NH-344 (Panchkula-Saharanpur).
Officials said that Ghaggar, Narwana and SYL overflowed and led to flooding in Ambala City, Tangri in Ambala Cantt, Markanda in Mullana and Markanda and Beghna in Naraingarh.
DC Shaleen said that there was a breach in Ghaggar River at Ghel village in Narwana branch and SYL canal at Ismailpur village that led to flooding of nearly four feet in around 10 villages.
“A column of army and team from irrigation department was tasked with the restoration work at the three sites. The rescue teams carried out evacuation in the villages through boats. Ghaggar river water entered several residential areas and the water level at cloth market and Manav Chowk areas was around three feet,” he added.
The administration has arranged a total of 19 boats and various shelter to those rescued. A temporary counter has also been made at panchayat bhawan to collect food packets and distribute in affected areas.
Karanveer Singh, executive engineer of Public Health Engineering Department, in a statement, appealed the public for judicious use of drinking water due to no power supply at the pumping station. He added that there will be supply once in a day for the next 2-3 days.
Apart from electricity, the supply of basic commodities like milk, bread and other perishable items was also hit.
All four major highways hit
All four major highways, including the Delhi-Amritsar highway, connecting the district remained affected on Monday.
DC Shaleen said NH-44 (Panipat-Jalandhar) was shut near Shambhu toll plaza on the Ambala-Patiala border after overflowing Ghaggar river breached banks.
He said that traffic was being returned from both sides and there were no alternate routes available at the moment.
NH-152 (Hisar-Chandigarh) remains partially closed at Ambala region till Sadhopur for the last two days as water breached the highway at several areas.
Traffic also remained affected on Delhi-Chandigarh route due to waterlogging and an advisory was also issued to avoid venturing out on the highway.
NH-344 (Panchkula-Saharanpur) remained flooded near Mullana by the Markanda River.
750 students rescued from Chaman Vatika school
Approximately 750 students and 40 staff members were rescued from Chaman Vatika Gurukul in Sadhopur in Ambala.
59 trains cancelled
As per latest communication from Northern Railways, a total of 59 trains were cancelled in North India due to heavy rainfall on Ambala-Chandigarh-Kalka, Sirhind-Nangal Dam, Chandigarh-Sahnewal and Ambala-Saharanpur sections.
The railways also announced cancellation of 39 trains for Tuesday as well.
Ambala-Saharanpur and Kalka-Shimla section and tracks beyond Nangal Dam remain disconnected and closed for day 2.
DRM Mandeep Singh Bhatia said, “No restoration works could be carried out as there is no respite from rain anywhere at these locations.”

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