A high alert has been sounded in many of Madhya Pradesh's districts following days of incessant rains with many schools and colleges being asked to shut down till further notice. Large parts of the state's Mandsaur district remained submerged underwater because of the overflowing river Shivna, which did not spare the famous Pashupatinath temple.
The administration also ordered that schools in Ratlam, Shajapur, Indore, Guna and Rajgarh districts be closed down after heavy rains were predicted on Friday. Administration in the affected districts cancelled the leaves of government staffers in preparation for the forthcoming situation.
The rain and floods have already killed dozens in the state. In Ujjain's Mahidpur tehsil, the bodies of two school teachers and their car driver was recovered on Friday.
The three had been returning from a flag hoisting ceremony in a government school in Barkhera Bujurg when their car got stuck in the strong currents of the overflowing nullah.
The three bodies were recovered during an overnight rescue operation, three kilometres from the accident site.
In a separate incident, the police in the district lodged an FIR against a bus driver who crossed the inundated bridge along Mahidpur-Nagra route on Thursday despite warnings from the passengers. After the water levels increased at Omkareshwar dam, the administration banned boats in the Narmada river and also barred visitors from the river's banks. The administration also issued warning on public speakers and urged people not to venture close to the Narmada river, which crossed the danger marks in several areas in the Malwa region.
Access to Raisen district was cut off after 16 floodgates of Bargi dam was opened in Jabalpur and waters gushed into the river Barna. The state's capital city of Bhopal has also witnessed incessant rains in the last few days and the Bhadbhada dam's flood gates were opened on four occasions to release excess water.
The water at Kaliyasot dam in Bhopal also reached a saturation point on Thursday night and one of the flood gates was opened.
The Pagneshwar river dam connecting Vidisha to Raisen has been flooded and access to around 100 villages in the area has been cut off. National Highway 146 was also closed for traffic in the last three days. As the train tracks remain submerged in water, trains were also affected in Bina in Sagar districts with several of the Delhi-Mumbai route trains being cancelled in the last few days.
Chambal and Parvati rivers have been flowing about the danger mark in Sheopur and the district lost road connectivity to the three Rajasthan areas - Jaipur, Kota and Baran.
A high alert was sounded in Bhind and Morena after the heavy rains. On Thursday evening, a family of four took refuge on an island in Maksudangarh tehsil in Tikamgarh after the Khejra river flooded the region. According to reports, efforts were still on to rescue the farmer family.
Chief Minister Kamal Nath is said to be monitoring the situation personally in the state and has issued instructions to the administration for relief and rescue measures.