Heavy rains pound parts of west Madhya Pradesh, low-lying areas inundated

Heavy rains inundated low-lying areas at several places in Madhya Pradesh, especially some districts in the western parts of the state, where normal life was affected, officials said on Saturday.

Incessant rainfall in some western districts, including Bhopal, Sehore and Indore since Friday, sent small rivers and nullahs into spate, they said.

"Sehore received 316 mm rainfall in 24 hours ending 8:30 am on Saturday, the highest in the state. Indore recorded 263 mm rainfall, while it was 210 mm in Bhopal during the same period," meteorologist S N Sahu of the India Meteorological Department's Bhopal office told PTI.

Monsoon is likely to remain active in the western parts for the next two days, he added.

The downpour caused flooding in low-lying areas and some slums in Bhopal, where the authorities opened the sluice gates of Bhadbhada Dam of Upper Lake on Saturday to release water.

"The sluice gates were opened following a rise in water levels. Inflow from streams in the catchment areas is causing the water level to rise in the Upper Lake," Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner K V S Choudary said.

An alert has been sounded in the downstream areas of the dam, he said.

Roads in some areas of the state capital got submerged following the downpour.

Shahpura Lake in Bhopal started overflowing following incessant rains, the authorities said.

A British-era building in the polytechnic college campus at Nowgaon in Chhattarpur district of Bundelkhand region collapsed due to torrential rains late on Friday night. An empty bus parked on the premises got damaged after the debris fell on it, police said.

However, nobody was injured in the incident. The building was being repaired when it fell, they added.

Three women who had gone to a temple at Tilawad village, around 65 kilometres from Shajapur district, got stuck there last night after water level around it rose suddenly. They were pulled out to safety using ropes on Saturday morning, local residents said.