TURA: Incessant rains that lashed Garo Hills for close to 12 long hours, beginning late Wednesday night, led to landslides, disrupting road communication, damaging properties and inundating low-lying areas of the region.
While no loss of life has been reported from any part of the region so far, the downpour-triggered damage was mostly seen in the urban areas, particularly Tura, where the storm left in its wake landslides and mudslides in congested areas of the town.
“Heavy rains have caused landslides in various places across the district. We have activated the Disaster Response teams and PWD (Roads) is already clearing roads,” said West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner, Ram Singh.
As the threat of more landslides in the areas of Hawakhana and Teteng A’ja still looms, citizens from the area have been advised to remain alert.
In the Teteng A’aja and Hawakahana localities, tonnes of loose earth accompanied by trees and bamboo grooves have given way to the rains sliding down and causing damage to houses, vehicles and other properties.
A landslide on the main highway at Spring Hills, on the entry to Tura, caused a temporary disruption to the traffic flow in the morning.
Due to the downpour, three main rivers of Garo Hills, viz. Simsang in East and South Garo Hills, Jinjiram in the plainbelt and Ganol in West Garo Hills were flowing above the danger mark.
The three rivers also inundated large swathes of low-lying areas including standing paddy crops in Damalgre, Mukdangra and Garobadha region.
This is the second major storm that hit the region in less than two weeks.
On September 5, a similar storm during the day caused damage to roads in Tura and beyond.
Meanwhile, Congress Spokesperson Zenith M Sangma visited the flood-affected Sangkarigre village under Rerapara development block of Rangsakona in West Garo Hills, which experienced flash floods in the wake of the night’s storm.
“There are more than 100 households in the village and floods have inundated drinking water bodies like ring-wells and reservoirs,” said Sangma during his visit to the flood site.
He said that portable water was being provided by the PHE department to prevent outbreak of waterborne diseases.