Rats burrowing underground seems to have brought down a three-storey building in Agra. On Sunday, the three-storey building in Kacheri Ghat area collapsed after the foundations of the house was damaged by the constant burrowing of thousands of rats.
Sudhir Kumar Verma, the owner of the house had been trying to get rid of the rats for a long time. When water entered the underground burrows after heavy rains, the family figured that the building was not stable and decided to move out on Saturday night. Hours later, the building collapsed.
The area near the Mankameshwar temple in Agra has had a rat infestation problem for long, and in recent times, the number of rats have only gone up. They have been burrowing under houses and damaging the sewers and other infrastructure in the area. According to officials, the foundations of many houses here may have been weakened because of this.
Verma said that he was aware that the building was unstable after cracks appeared on the walls, but he did not expect it to collapse the way it did. Although Verma is glad to have escaped with his family before the building came down on them, he laments at the loss of his ancestral house.
The houses located in the surrounding areas are in danger as well, authorities said, as the foundations of the premises have been damaged by rats.