Cyclone Yaas/ Over 10 lakh affected across state Ranchi, Jamshedpur set new rainfall records

Ranchi and Jamshedpur received the highest rainfall to ever be recorded in a single day in May, triggered by the Cyclone Yaas that caused major damage and affected more than 10 lakh people in the state, including two deaths reported from Ranchi on Thursday, officials said.

Ranchi set the new record by registering 151mm rainfall in 24 hours, from 8.30 am on Wednesday to 8.30 am on Thursday. Ranchi’s earlier record was 72.2mm registered on May 17, 1990, as per the records available with Ranchi centre of India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Ranchi also set a new record in terms of monthly rainfall in May. The city recorded 269.3mm rainfall from May 1 to May 27, breaking all previous records. The previous monthly record was of 151 mm rainfall registered in May, 1959, officials said.

Jamshedpur also set a new record of 108.1mm rainfall in 24 hours this month. Jamshedpur’s earlier record was of 104mm rainfall recorded on May 27, 2017.

The incessant rain since Wednesday caused heavy damage in many parts of the state as several houses were collapsed, large-scale standing vegetable crops have been destroyed, rainwater gushed into the houses in low lying areas while many trees and electricity poles were uprooted.

State disaster management secretary Amitabh Kaushal said around 8-10 lakh people in the state are affected by the cyclone. “We had evacuated 15,000 people as a precautionary measure from vulnerable places before the cyclone, while 4,000 more people were evacuated from low-lying areas on Thursday,” he said.

He added that the reports of houses being damaged are coming. “An assessment of the damage will be done once the weather improves,” he said.

Reports from the capital city, two persons, including an infant, died after a wall of their asbestos-roofed house collapsed and fell on them due to heavy rain in Ranchi’s HEC area on Thursday morning, police said.

The deceased were identified as Shankar Ramani, 26, and his 11-month-old son Reshab Kumar. The locals removed the debris and rushed the victims to RIMS where doctors declared them brought dead.

Meanwhile, most parts of Ranchi faced frequent power cuts since Wednesday evening due to heavy rainfall. Rainwater gushed in several houses in low lying areas of Ranchi.

Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) sent its teams to many places to clear the roads and waterlogging.

A bridge built on the Kanchi river in Ranchi’s Tamar block collapsed, while several diversions washed away due to the heavy rains. Water levels at Swarnarekha and Kharkai rivers have reached danger level.

The East Singhbhum administration evacuated thousands of people living in low-lying and vulnerable areas.

Senior scientist at Ranchi IMD centre Abhishek Anand said that Cyclone Yaas entered Jharkhand in form of deep depression on Wednesday midnight. “Most parts of Jharkhand, mainly the central areas, experienced heavy to very heavy rainfall on Thursday,” he said.

Anand said the situation might improve on Friday, as the depression would move out from Jharkhand

.