- Chitrakoot faces renewed flooding as Mandakini River rises again, prompting fresh warnings
- Weekend floods submerged homes, shops, temples, and damaged roads and bridges in the town
- IAF helicopters and rescue teams evacuated nearly 1,000 people stranded on rooftops
Just as Chitrakoot began assessing the damage from one of its worst floods in decades, the Mandakini River started rising again on Monday morning, sending water back toward shops and low-lying areas around Ramghat and prompting authorities to issue fresh warnings to residents and traders.
The renewed surge has deepened concerns in the pilgrimage town, where weekend floods submerged homes, hotels, temples, dharamshalas and hundreds of shops, while damaging roads and bridges. Authorities made public announcements on Monday, asking people living and working near the river to move to safer locations.
The fresh warning came a day after the Mandakini river had begun to recede and the residents returned to streets, homes and shops blanketed in mud and sludge left behind by the floods.
The devastation caused by the first surge has been extensive.
Torrential rain in the catchment areas of eastern Madhya Pradesh sent the Mandakini surging through Chitrakoot over the weekend. Officials said water levels exceeded those recorded during the devastating 2003 floods, inundating large parts of the pilgrimage town on both sides of the Madhya Pradesh-Uttar Pradesh border. Nearly 1,000 people were rescued during the initial emergency, including hundreds from the Madhya Pradesh side.
As floodswaters rose rapidly around Ramghat, many people were stranded on rooftops and terraces. Two Indian Air Force helicopters, along with State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams and other rescue personnel, were deployed for evacuation operations. An IAF helicopter from Prayagraj airlifted several people trapped on the terrace of a partially submerged building near the swollen river.
A large section of the nearly 300-metre bridge linking the Ramghat-Nayagaon stretch with the Hanuman Dhara side was washed away or badly damaged, disrupting connectivity between the Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh sides of Chitrakoot.
The floods have also taken a severe toll on the town's religious and historic landmarks. Tulsi Ghat suffered extensive damage, while more than 400 shops were inundated.
While authorities on the Madhya Pradesh side reported no deaths during the initial rescue operation, local reports from Uttar Pradesh said at least two people were killed and another person remained missing.
The impact of the floods extends well beyond the pilgrimage town.
Several villages in Chitrakoot, Koter and Rampur Baghelan tehsils of Satna district have been affected by swollen rivers and persistent rainfall. The Mandakini and Semrawal rivers have damaged houses, roads and standing crops, while losses of livestock and poultry have also been reported.
The district administration has ordered all schools in Satna to remain closed on August 31 and September 1 for students from nursery to Class 12 due to heavy rainfall, swollen rivers and disrupted road connectivity.
The threat remains across eastern Madhya Pradesh, where a heavy rain alert has been issued for 11 districts, including Rewa, Mauganj, Maihar, Sidhi, Umaria, Shahdol, Dindori, Anuppur, Mandla, Seoni and Balaghat. The weather department has warned of very heavy rainfall in parts of the state over the next three days.
In Shahdol district, rising inflows into the Bansagar Dam forced authorities to open six gates on Sunday. Around 2,454 cumecs of water was being released into the Son River, prompting authorities to place 24 downstream villages in Sidhi district on alert. The sharp rise in inflows has added concerns as heavy rain continues across the dam's catchment area.
Singrauli has also been battered by intense rain. A bridge in the district has been badly damaged by floodwaters, disrupting movement along the Singrauli-Sidhi road corridor. Flooding and heavy rain have also affected parts of Mandla, Panna, Tikamgarh and the wider Vindhya-Bundelkhand belt.
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, who visited Chitrakoot on Sunday, said the floods had broken previous records and warned that the next two to three days would remain critical.
He directed officials to remain stationed in the affected area, conduct house-to-house surveys to assess losses and examine whether encroachments along vulnerable stretches worsened the impact of the flooding.
The administration has been instructed to ensure food, clean drinking water and other essential supplies reach affected families and pilgrims, while damage assessment and restoration of roads, bridges and public infrastructure continue.
