Woman swept away in drain as heavy rain lashes parts of Jharkhand; IMD says more showers in store

RANCHI: A 50-year-old woman was swept away in an overflowing drain in Jharkhand's Dumka district as heavy rain lashed parts of the state, officials said on Thursday. The India Meteorological Department(IMD) has issued an orange alert for the districts of Garhwa, Palamu and Chatra, as several parts of the state are pounded by rain, officials said on Thursday. A yellow alert has also been issued for Latehar, Hazaribag, Bokaro, Koderma, Giridih, and Dhanbad till October 4, an official said on Thursday. The Dumka incident happened when the victim, identified as Savitri Devi, stepped out of her home at Gilanpada locality in Dumka town Wednesday night. While wading in knee-deep water, she slipped into a drain, about 50 meters away from her home, and swept away, said Officer-in-Charge of Town Police Station Jagarnath Dhan. She probably could not judge the distance between the drain and her home due to waterlogging, he said. Her body was recovered and sent for post-mortem examination. On Wednesday, heavy rain lashed several districts such as Koderma, Chatra, Hazaribag and Ranchi. The state capital and various other areas of the state continued to witness showers on Thursday, when the Dusshera festival will be celebrated. Light to moderate rainfall at many places with heavy rainfall at isolated places is likely on October 2. The state may witness light to moderate rainfall at most places and heavy to very heavy showers at isolated places tomorrow. Heavy rainfall is likely to occur at isolated places on October 4, said Abhishek Anand, the in-charge of the Ranchi Meteorological Centre. Apart from this, isolated thunderstorms accompanied by gusty winds up to 40 km per hour are likely to occur across the state till October 6. A yellow alert has been issued for Lohardaga, Gumla, Simdega, Ranchi, Khunti, West Singhbhum, Bokaro, Seraikela-Kharsawan, East Singhbhum, Ramgarh, and Dhanbad till October 3, according to the bulletin issued by the IMD. The IMD said the temperature is expected to decrease by 3-5 degrees Celsius in the next three days.