An overflowing Chandil reservoir (above) floods a village on Monday. Picture by Srinivas

Jamshedpur, June 20: The rain may have bid adieu for the time being, but not the spectre of flood.

One of the radial gates at Chandil dam was opened today to prevent villages in the Subernarekha Multipurpose Project (SMP) command area from getting inundated after water level in the reservoir neared the danger mark.

Superintending engineer of Chandil dam Ashok Kumar said by noon, the water in the reservoir had touched the 180.7-metre mark.

“On Thursday evening when it started raining, the water level at the dam was 176.6 metre. By this noon, it had reached 180.7 metres. Had we not opened the radial gate, then the water level would have crossed the danger mark, i.e. 182 metres, flooding about two dozen villages in the SMP command area,” Kumar added.

Last year, the water level in the reservoir had reached 179.1 metres by October 13, the end of monsoon. The superintending engineer further pointed out that Kanchi and Karkari rivers, which flow along Khunti and Sili and finally meet Subernarekha, are contributing to the rising water level in the dam.

Fear of floods and large-scale damages caused by the incessant downpour over the past three days have forced many villagers in Chandil, Ichagarh and Nimdih blocks of Seraikela-Kharsawan district to abandon their huts and take refuge either at relatives’ houses or makeshift camps.

Many thatched huts, where villagers continued to stay despite the SMP authorities rehabilitating them, collapsed when water gushed in and inundated the area last night. As a result, the villagers, who were waiting for better compensation packages, had to move out much against their wishes.

“We had no option but to leave our ancestral land as the dam water is going up at an alarming rate. Our village is partially submerged,” said Sudarshan Mahto, a resident of Rampur village in Chandil, who is now staying with a relative along the NH-33.

The weatherman has withdrawn the heavy rainfall warning in Jharkhand as the depression moved to Chhattisgarh. “Monsoon is active over Jharkhand which will result in widespread rain. But, it won’t rain heavily,” said Animesh Chanda, director of the Patna Meteorological Office.