8 Killed in Jharkhand Due to Heavy Rain and Lightning

Due to the intense rain that has been falling in Jharkhand over the past 24 hours, eight persons have died.

Mother Neha Choudhary, 33, sons Ankit, 11, Gagan, 5, and Iksha, 1, and daughter Iksha Choudhary, 1, perished after lightning struck their improvised tent made of plastic that was placed next to a tree on Sunday night in the Narayanpur police station area of Jamtara district.

The woman's husband, Dhunnu Choudhary, said that they were nomads who had recently moved to Chandadih-Lakhanpur hamlet in the Narayanpur region from Purulia in Bengal.

All seven family members were transported by local villagers in an ambulance as the lightning struck the tent to the community health center in Narayanpur, where the physicians pronounced four of them dead and sent the bodies to Jamtara Sadar Hospital for post-mortem examination.

Everyone in the tent was watching films on their phones as it was pouring fiercely outside when lightning hit, according to Dhunnu Choudhary.

Additionally, he asserted that they relocate from one site to another in quest of food and sell inexpensive goods made in various locations in other states.

According to Jamtara deputy commissioner Shashi Bhushan Mehra, it would be challenging to offer compensation in accordance with disaster management regulations because they are a nomadic tribe and lack legitimate residential evidence.

"Paying them compensation in accordance with disaster management regulations would be challenging. On compassionate grounds, we would give them some money so they could perform rituals. We've encouraged people to refrain from pitching tents next to trees when it's raining, the deputy commissioner stated.

In another incidence, 55-year-old Budhram Deogam of Jojogutu village drowned in the Koyna river while attempting to cross the swollen river in the Saranda forest area.

When Budhram was returning to his village from Chotanagra, he chose to take the quickest route possible by crossing the river, but he didn't realize the river was swollen and drowned on Sunday night. On Monday early in the morning, the body was found.

Lovely Kumari, age 12, and Arushi Kumari, age 9, both sisters and the daughters of Ramesh Singh, drowned in a pond on Sunday night in Mayapur village, Lakshmipur panchayat, Naudiha Bazar police station area, Palamau district.

The sisters allegedly went to the pond on Sunday evening to have a bath but were unable to judge the depth because of the rising water due to the rains and drowned. The locals pulled their bodies out on Sunday night, and they were transferred to the hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

Dev Prasad was found dead in a large sewer in the Lalpur neighborhood of Ranchi on Sunday night. Police and rescue personnel were able to find his body.

After being recovered on Monday morning, the body was transferred for a post-mortem before being given to family members.

Locals claim that Dev Prasad, who was heading home with his brother on Sunday night, fell into the Lalpur Hatma drain and was swept away.

The radial gates had to be opened on Monday because the water levels in the dams at Maithon, Panchet (both in Dhanbad), and Chandil (in Seraikela-Kharsawan) had reached dangerous levels.