INDIA. Mumbai: Over 100 people died, and thousands were evacuated due to landslides and floods following swollen rivers and overfilled water reservoirs caused by the incessant rains in the last few days in different parts of the country.
Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh bore the brunt, with the maximum death toll reported from Maharashtra, where nearly 89 people died in rain-related incidents till Thursday.
Maharashtra
Vidarbha
The intensity of rains was felt more in the Vidarbha region than in other regions. In Nagpur, ten people died due to rain-related incidents in the 24 hours that ended on Thursday. The Nagpur District collector instructed staff to evacuate flood-hit villages to safer places and implement snake bite prevention measures in every taluka.
In an unusual incident, due to heavy flooding and swollen Wardha river in Chandrapur, a villager Shyam Ginghare residing at Podsa Village, had to wade through knee-deep water covering over 5 km to take his sick infant son to a private doctor located at Vedgaon since he could not get medicare in his village.
Similarly, 22 truck drivers in Chandrapur were rescued at the inundated Gadchandur-Dhanora highway by a team of Chandrapur district police and NDRF on Thursday. Besides, the Bhandara-Madhya Pradesh highway was closed for several hours due to the deluge. In Amravati, a dilapidated building collapsed like a pack of cards. Fortunately, no one was injured since its occupants were evacuated earlier.
Several areas of Wardha, Yavatmal, Akola, Buldhana, South Gadchiroli, and Bhandara districts were submerged, and the establishments, including schools and the college, remained closed. In Gadchiroli, the Godavari, Kaleshwaram, and Indravati rivers flowed above the danger level. Also, nearly 2103 people were evacuated to safety in Gadchiroli. Four people have been swept away in overflowing streams in Gondia. Due to continuous rains, the farmers suffered large-scale damage in Washim.
Marathwada
Nanded district received unprecedented rain this season and saw 123 mm rainfall over 24 hours till Thursday afternoon. In Nanded, the residents of 80 villages were evacuated and shifted to safer places. The storage level in the Jayakwadi major irrigation project in Aurangabad district approached the halfway mark following heavy inflows from upstream areas. Hingoli district also received unprecedented rainfall.
Western Maharashtra
The Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad on the lee side of Western Ghats were lashed with heavy rains. Pune city exceeded its monthly normal of July, earlier than halfway through the month. The district received 203 mm of rainfall, surpassing the normal rains of 187 mm. The water released from the Khadakwasla dam was increased to 13,138 cusecs. Similarly, incidents of landslides were reported from the Sinhagad Fort area in Pune.
The Panhganga and all other rivers in Kolhapur were overflowing. Due to this, hundreds of people residing on the banks of the river were evacuated to safety by NDRF.
Central Maharashtra
The ancient old city of Nashik recorded 353.8 mm of rainfall against the monthly figure of 156.1 mm rainfall. Most of the shrines in Nashik were submerged in flood waters, and the administration announced the closure of the Saptashrungi shrine for the next 45 days.
Konkan
The Raigad, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg districts in Konkan received heavy rainfall. The Jagbudi (Khed taluka) river and Kodvali river (Rajapur) were flowing above the danger mark. Due to this, the residents of 25-30 villages were alerted.
Near Mumbai
The rains caused heavy damage in areas neighbouring Mumbai. In Palghar, 125 houses were damaged. Besides, in a landslide, a man and his daughter were killed. Most of the dams, including Kavadas, were overflowing. As such, the flood gates of these dams were opened. The rivers Vaitarna and Pinjal were near the danger mark, and the villagers were alerted. In another incident in Palghar, ten workers of “R Infra”, stranded on a barge in Bahadoli-Vaitarna, were evacuated by the NDRF team after struggling for nearly 12 hours. In Vasai, some tourists stranded in flood waters were evacuated.
In Kalyan in the Thane districts, the Kalyan creek and Ulhas river rose above the danger level, and flood waters entered over 200 houses. Besides, cattle sheds with nearly 3000 buffaloes were affected. The incidents of landslides were reported from Hanuman Nagar in Kalyan. Also, 50 to 60 shops were submerged in flood waters in neighbouring Bhiwandi.
Traffic on the Kalyan-Ahmednagar highway was halted when the Murbadi river started overflowing near Kishor village.
Gujarat
Neighbouring Gujarat, too, received heavy rains, and several areas, including Navsari, were inundated. Due to heavy water-logging Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway was closed for vehicular traffic. The Indian Coast Guard rescued two women and a child isolated in Toran Village. They were evacuated to a safe location, a spokesman for ICG said.
Heavy showers in parts of South Gujarat and the Kutch-Saurashtra region left 14 people dead, while over 31,000 were evacuated so far this season. Three National highways in Kutch, Navsari, and Dang districts were blocked, while 51 state highways and over 400 panchayat roads were damaged.
A spokesman for Gujarat Government said that with six fatalities on Thursday, the death toll in the rain-related incident has reached 69 with the relocation of 27,896 people since first June.
Telangana
Over 19,000 people were shifted to relief camps across Telangana as rains continued to pound several parts of the state on Thursday. The Telangana government announced the closure of educational institutes till Saturday due to inundated low-lying areas and damaged road links. On Thursday, two persons stranded on a water tank surrounded by water from all sides at Mancherial were rescued by the Indian Air Force.
IAF station at Hakimpet, Secunderabad, received a request on Thursday, at around 10:30 am from the Govt of Telangana to rescue two persons stranded on a water tank. In less than an hour, a Chetak helicopter set course towards the affected area near Mancherial.
“On reaching the location, the pilots assessed the situation and conducted winching operations to rescue the two individuals, who were then flown to a nearby helipad,” a Defence Spokesman said.
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