Heavy rainfall across Jharkhand has left at least five people dead, one person missing, and several others injured, officials confirmed on Saturday. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for extremely heavy rainfall in Palamu, Garhwa, and Chatra districts till Sunday morning, while an orange alert remains in place for Ranchi, Khunti, Lohardaga, Latehar, Seraikela-Kharsawan, and parts of Singhbhum. Torrential downpours over the past 24 hours have uprooted trees, damaged houses, flooded farmlands, and disrupted traffic across the state.
Among the casualties, a woman and her seven-year-old son died after their house collapsed in Dandu village, Seraikela-Kharsawan, on Friday night. Eight others were also injured in the incident while visiting the family home. In another case in the same district, a five-year-old boy was killed when the wall of a house collapsed in Kol Shimla village early Saturday morning, leaving three of his family members injured. Meanwhile, in Chatra district, a couple was swept away in the overflowing Siyari river. The husband’s body was later recovered, but the wife remains missing. Another fatality was reported from Khairatola village in Pathalgada block of the district due to a rain-related accident.
The rains have caused widespread infrastructure damage, including the collapse of concrete slabs near Piska station in Ranchi, triggering a traffic jam on NH-43. Waterlogging has disrupted traffic on NH-39 at Brambe Bazar, while roads in several towns, including Ranchi, Dhurwa, and Namkum, developed major cracks. Low-lying residential areas were inundated, and hundreds of chickens perished at a poultry farm in Pathalgada. Rivers such as the Subernarekha and Kharkai have risen above danger levels, prompting alerts across multiple districts. With rainfall expected to continue until August 29 due to a prevailing low-pressure system, officials have opened sluice gates of the Tilaiya dam in Koderma as a precautionary measure. Jharkhand has so far recorded 927.7 mm of rainfall since June 1—32% above normal.
