Rain continues to batter, river bank breaches at several points
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, May 31 2025: Torrential rains over the past few days have led to a massive breach of the Imphal River's embankment at four points, causing extensive flooding in Imphal East.

As the embankments of the Imphal River collapsed on the northern side of Imphal East, several houses and roads at Heingang, Khurai, Wangkhei, Yaiskul, Thongju, Kshetrigao and several places of Keirao Constituency got inundated, damaging properties.

According to reports from the Water Resources Department's Control Room, the Imphal River's embankment breached at Heingang Kontha Ahallup Thokchom Leirak, and Khurai Heikrumakhong, while the river overflowed at Khabeisoi, Kontha Ahallup Leishangthem, and New Checkon Namthanpung.

Rain continues to batter, river bank breaches at several points

At Khurai Heikrumakhong, a 30-foot section of Imphal River's embankment collapsed and washed away about 10 houses, causing extensive damage in the area.

Several areas, including Sanjenthong Officers' Colony, Checkon, Bamon Leikai, Nongmeibung, Soibam Leikai, Porompat, Khurai, Keirang, Mantripukhri and Wangkhei experienced flooding as the Imphal River overflowed approximately 150 meters at New Checkon Namthanpung near Kangla Nongpokthong today at around 3 am, inundating houses and roads.

Affected areas included several houses, schools, All India Radio complex, Shree Shree Govindajee Temple, City Convention Centre, Manipur State Film Development Society, Advanced Hospital, and Babina Diagnostic Centre (Porompat branch), Porompat DC office complex, MLAs' quarters at Sanjenthong and several portion of Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) among others.

Vehicular traffic was severely disrupted as floodwaters inundated key roads, including the Imphal-Ukhrul Road, Imphal-Pangei Road, and Imphal-Yairipok Road, as well as the Andro Parking area.

Flooding also affected some houses at Nilakuthi and ATM booths at Palace Compound, JNIMS Road and Khuman Lampak.

The cash from the ATMs was salvaged by SIS Cash Centre and securely deposited in banks.

Businesses, fish farms, and crops have suffered substantial losses due to the heavy rainfall and flooding, with widespread damage to standing crops and fish escaping from farms.

The Imphal River embankment developed cracks in several areas of Singjamei, which were quickly fixed by local residents.

Rajeshwor Ningombam, whose house was washed away at Khurai Heikrumakhong, told the media that several homes belonging to families preparing for wedding ceremonies were swept away by the river water.

Visibly dejected, he said that all his household belongings had been swept away, and he couldn't salvage anything.

He said that despite the local people's efforts to prevent the embankment breach, no authorities arrived to mitigate the disaster, despite visible warning signs.

However, Rajeshwor noted that injuries were avoided as children and women had been evacuated in advance.

Water Resources Department officials worked late into the evening to repair the river embankment breaches at Khurai Heikrumakhong and Heingang Ahallup, using heavy machinery but the task remained incomplete when this report was filed.

The river embankment breach at New Checkon, on the other, has temporarily been fixed.

Flooding was also reported in areas including Maiba Khul, Koirengei, Sanjenthong, and Mahabali near Old Thumbu thong, as the Imphal River overflowed, causing water to seep into nearby homes.