A lake in the Morena district of Madhya Pradesh suffered a breach in its earthen retaining wall, resulting in inundation in at least four nearby villages and endangering more than a dozen other villages and towns.
According to reports, the boundary wall of Tonga Lake developed a crack on Monday evening. By Tuesday morning, a 30-foot-wide portion of the earthen wall had broken, causing a large amount of water to flow out of the lake into nearby villages.
The lake is said to be about 140 years old and is located in the Sabalgarh tehsil of Morena district.
Its water reached the villages of Kutghan Ka Pura, Kori Ka Pura, Pasaun, and the Panchmukhi Hanuman Temple area on Tuesday morning, flooding the villages.
Villagers began evacuating their homes to reach safer areas, while the water also inundated a large area of standing crops. Some villagers climbed onto the roofs of their houses to stay safe.
Sabalgarh BJP MLA Sarla Rawat, SDM Virendra Katare, and Sabalgarh Police Station In-Charge Sohanpal Tomar, along with teams from the police, district administration, and rescue workers, rushed to the spot after receiving information about the incident.
Sources said that Tonga Lake has a capacity of about 1.93 million cubic metres.
Traffic on the main road between Morena and Sabalgarh was also halted due to waterlogging.
According to officials, efforts were underway to plug the breach and repair the broken wall of the lake to stop the flow of water.