Patna, September 30: A joint team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) on Monday rescued Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi who was stranded at his residence in Rajendra Nagar following heavy rains in the state. In a video shared by news agency ANI, a rescue team is seen bringing Sushil Kumar Modi to a safer location using a boat as roads in Patna has turned waterways following incessant rainfall.

Besides Sushil Kumar, water also entered the residences of former Chief Ministers Satendra Narayan Singh on Boring Road and Jitan Ram Manjhi, as well as BJP MP and former Union Minister Rajeev Pratap Rudy. The unexpected 'heavy to extremely heavy rain' has so far claimed the lives of 29 people, crippling normal life, especially in Patna where record rains caused heavy water-logging. Water gushed into houses, shops and offices in the state capital.

As roads are flooded, boats have been deployed to carry out rescue operations. People have been forced to stay indoors as most of the roads were water-logged. Several state-run hospitals including the Nalanda Medical College and Hospital in Patna are flooded. "This is the first time I have seen boats plying on the water-logged roads in Patna, it is new for us," Sanket Jha, a college student of Rajendra Nagar colony, told news agency IANS.

The Centre has deployed as many as 19 teams of NDRF to conduct rescue and evacuation operations along with other agencies in the flood-affected areas of the state. So far, NDRF has rescued two people and evacuated 4945 people and 45 livestock. On Sunday, NDRF teams carried out evacuation operation in low lying parts of Patna and evacuated 235 people to safer places.

The water level in major rivers including Ganga, Koshi, Gandak, Bagmati, and the Mahananda, are on the rise, threatening to breach embankments at many places. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ordered all the district collectors to continue monitoring the situation and relief measures till October 15.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 30, 2019 02:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).