Rain continued in many areas of Madhya Pradesh on Friday as well. It is raining intermittently in Bhopal. Meanwhile, in Narmadapuram district 11 gates of Tawa dam were opened. Earlier, two gates were opened at 5:30 am and in view of the inflow of water into the dam, two more gates were opened at 9:30 am and after that two more gates were opened in the afternoon.

Tawa Dam Project Officer R K Srivastava said that the governing level of the dam is up to 1158 feet. This time the gates have been opened two months in advance. The maximum level of the dam is 1166 feet. The water-level is maintained at 1158 feet till July 31. With the opening of the dam gates, the water level of the Narmada River will increase and people living in low-lying settlements have been asked to move to a safer place.

So far this season in Madhya Pradesh, 18 per cent more water has poured than normal. Normally 10.8 inches of water was supposed to fall, but 12.76 inches of rain has fallen as of now. According to the Meteorological Department, there is a possibility of heavy rainfall in Indore, Bhopal, Ujjain and Narmadapuram on Saturday as well. There was not much rain in Gwalior-Chambal, Baghelkhand, Bundelkhand and Mahakaushal regions. There will be a slight drizzle here.

Water on rail track, trains diverted: The track between Kiratgarh-Taku on Itarsi to Nagpur rail route was waterlogged, due to which the route of some trains was diverted. Train 20806 New Delhi-Visakhapatnam Express and 12616 New Delhi-Chennai GT Express were diverted from Itarsi station via diverted route Khandwa-Badnera-Wardha-Ballarshah. The up and down railway track of Kesla has been made operational after the water receded in the afternoon.

Opening the gate of Tawa will affect these areas: The water of Tawa Dam goes into the Narmada River. Due to this, people living on the banks of Narmada in Hoshangabad, Dhar, Alirajpur, Harda, Dewas, Sehore, Raisen and Khandwa districts have been alerted. Mardara, Sontalai, Mehraghat, Sangakheda Kala, Bandrabhan, Raipur villages are adjacent to Tawa river, so an alert has been issued here as well. After the Tawa Dam gate is opened, it takes 6 hours for the water to reach Bandrabhan. The water level starts rising after 6 to 7 hours at Sethani Ghat in Narmadapuram. The water released from Tawa fills the Indira Sagar Dam. The water level of Narmada will increase at Narmadapuram, Bandrabhan, Aonli Ghat, Talnagri, Babri Ghat.