AIR Imphal goes off air amid office flooding, news team relocates to substation

Imphal, May 31: The All India Radio (AIR) Imphal station suspended its primary and FM radio transmissions after broadcasting the 7:30 am news due to flooding at the main office premises on Saturday.

Grappling with incessant rainfall over the past four days, the station’s news division, however, resumed their transmission from a High Power Transmission station at Mayang Imphal in Imphal west district, from 5 pm this afternoon,officials said.

Meanwhile, many localities in Manipur, particularly in Imphal East district, experienced flooding this morning following the overflow of the Imphal River at multiple locations due to continuous rainfall over the past four days.

Several families residing along the Senapati riverbank, including those in Viewland Colony in Senapati district headquarters, located 60 km north of Imphal, were evacuated to safer places because of the flooding.

With the continuation of the rain till the filing of the report, the water level of other major rivers Nambul,Iril and Nambol are also flowing at warning level.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for five Northeast states, including Manipur, predicting widespread light to moderate rainfall likely to persist.

Imphal West district where the state capital is located received a record rainfall of 197.8mm on Friday alone according to directorate of environment and climate change,leading to flash flooding in various parts of low lying areas.

According to the Meteorological Centre Imphal’s Saturday morning report, Senapati recorded the highest rainfall at 154.2 mm, a sharp increase from Friday’s 52.1 mm, followed by Ukhrul with 76.2 mm (compared to 83.5 mm on Friday). Tamenglong and Imphal recorded 62.1 mm and 36.4 mm of rainfall, respectively.

It may be noted that heavy downpours have also affected other parts of the Northeast region. Arunachal Pradesh reported seven fatalities due to landslides, Tripura recorded the death of a minor caused by torrential rainfall, and Mizoram experienced several landslides, with five feared dead in Lawngtlai following the collapse of a hotel.