89,000 moved to safety; relief ops continue
More than 89,000 people were evacuated from the rain-ravaged coastal Konkan region and several parts of western Maharashtra as multiple agencies continued rescue and relief operations in the flood-affected areas of the State on Saturday.
Despite a let-up in the rain in most parts of the State, large parts of western Maharashtra districts of Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur remained thick sheets of floodwater, while the towns of Chiplun, Khed in Ratnagiri district and other areas in coastal Konkan region continued to reel under inundation.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray visited Talai village in Mahad taluka of Raigad district where more than 50 people were killed in a massive landslide on Friday. He assured the affected people that the State Government would, apart from giving compensation to the affected families, undertake rehabilitation of the displaced people across the coastal Konkan region and other parts of the State.
As many as 89,333 people were rendered homeless as they were evacuated in various flood-affected districts of coastal Konkan region and several parts of Western Maharashtra.
Sangli district in western Maharashtra bore maximum brunt of the flood situation arising from the heavy rain battering the region for the past four days.
While 40,573 people have been evacuated to safer places in Sangli district, the neighbouring Kolhapur district accounted for the evacuation of 40,882 people. As many as 2,681 marooned people were shifted to safer places in Thane district, there were evacuation of people in other districts like Ratnagiri (1200), Raigad (1000), Satara (734) and Pune (263).
Due to heavy rainfall in the district and heavy discharge from the Koyna dam, rivers in the district, including the Panchgana breached the danger mark and contributed to inundation in many areas in Sangli and Kolhapur districts. On its part, the district administration evacuated people from low-lying areas with help of NDRF and local teams.
Apart from the heavy rain, the discharge of huge volumes of water from Almatti dam is contributing to the flood situation in Kolhapur district. The authorities have sounded high alert and deployed more teams to face any eventuality.
Earlier in the day, the State Disaster Management Authority pegged the current rain-flood toll at 76, while another 59 have gone missing and 38 others were injured in the floods, landslides and other rain-related tragedies.
The toll estimated by the SDMA is a conservative one. Unconfirmed reports said the number of deaths had crossed 100 and the final toll might be much more.
Giving an overall picture of the rain and flood situation in coastal Konkan region and western Maharashtra, a senior state government official said, “Mahad and Poladpur in Raigad, Chiplun and in Ratnagiri in Konkan region and districts of Satara, Kolhapur and Sangli have been badly affected both by rains and consequent flood. We are witnessing flood situation in Thane and Palghar districts.”
In an effort to deal with the flood situation, the Disaster Management, Relief & Rehabilitation authorities deployed teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force across all the affected districts. As many as 890 villages have been affected by the floods.
A total of 25 NDRF teams plus 8 on standby, 3 units each of Indian Army and Indian Coast Guard, 7 of Indian Navy and 1 of Indian Air Force have been engaged in the rescue operations nonstop since the past over 24 hours.
According to official reports, heavy rainfall led to the breaking of the banks of Savitri river, resulting flooding in Mahad and Poladpur towns. The whole town of Mahad was completely cut off and was not accessible by road. Many people were stranded on roof tops and upper floors of the houses. Owing to overflow of Savitri river water onto the bridges, rescue teams could not reach the said regions. There landslides in the villages of Tayle, Sakharsutarwaadi in Mahad taluka and Kevnale in Poladpur taluka.
In Ratnagiri district, Chiplun and Khed towns have been completely inundated due to discharge from the Koyna dam and subsequently the Koltewadi dam leading to the rise in the levels of the Vashisti river. The two towns were cut off due to land routes being inundated. The bridge over the Vashisitiriver on the Mumbai Chiplun route was washed away.
Thousands of people were stranded on roof tops and upper floors of the houses as the water levels rose to over 15 to 20 feet in many places. NDRF and Coast Guard teams were deployed. Helicopters of the Airforce were also deployed for rescue and air dropping of food and water packets.
Relief camps have been set up at three locations where all arrangements were made for the rescued people. “One column of the Army was also dispatched for relief efforts. Coast Guard teams were also dispatched to the spot. More than 1000 people were safely evacuated by the various response teams,” the State Government official said.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal announced that the State Government provide free food-grains and kerosene to the people in the flood-affected regions of the State.
Talking to media persons at Nashik in north Maharashtra, Bhujbal said the State Government would provide 10 kg wheat, 10 kg, five kgs dal and five litre kerosene to each family, as per a government policy of March 2019.
“The kerosene will help people cook their meals since many areas are still waterlogged and without electricity and other fuels supplies due to the floods since the past three days,” he said.