As many as 136 people have died due to heavy rain in Maharashtra in the last 48 hours, ANI reported on Saturday, quoting the state’s Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar.
The toll includes 38 deaths in a landslide in Talai village of the coastal Raigad district. In all, 47 deaths have been reported from the district, according to PTI. Around 50 villagers are feared trapped after landslides in Satara and Ratnagiri districts, according to The Indian Express.
Raigad, Ratnagiri, Thane, Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur are the state’s worst-affected districts. Maharashtra’s Relief and Rehabilitation Department said 90,000 people have been evacuated from flood-hit areas, ANI reported.
The situation is worrying in neighbouring states too. Several parts of Goa, including Sattari and Bicholim blocks in the north and Dharbandora in the south, face a flood-like situation. The water supply in several areas of Goa, including the capital Panaji, was disrupted and more than 1,000 houses were damaged, NDTV reported. The Mumbai-Goa highway was blocked after continuous rain.
In Karnataka, three people died due to heavy rain in the last 24 hours. About 9,000 people have been evacuated from the state after landslides occurred in eight places.
The weather department has issued a red alert for the next 24 hours in six districts of Maharashtra and some parts of Karnataka. Several other districts have been put under orange and yellow alerts. Red alerts have been issued in isolated parts of eastern and western Madhya Pradesh too.
A red alert is issued to ask district authorities to “take action”, an orange alert to “stay prepared”, while a yellow alert asks them to “be aware”.
Here is the state-wise rainfall situation:
Maharashtra
A red alert has been issued for Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg in coastal Konkan area and for Pune, Satara and Kolhapur in western Maharashtra.
More than 70 people are reported to be missing since the landslide in Talai village of Raigad. The state’s toll include eight patients admitted to a Covid-19 hospital in Chiplun city of Ratnagiri district after the water entered the medical facility.
“Four people were on ventilator and they might have died due to lack of power, and four probably died because of trauma,” District Collector BN Patil told The Indian Express.
Seven naval flood rescue teams from Mumbai have been deployed at Ratnagiri and Raigad. One helicopter has also been deployed for aerial reconnaissance, according to ANI. The National Disaster Response Force is also engaged in rescue operations in the state.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray visited Taliye village in flood-ravaged Raigad district. He assured residents that they will be rehabilitated and compensated for their losses.
Thackeray added that in view of landslides, the residents of hilly areas will be relocated, PTI reported. “A plan would be made to shift small settlements from such places,” he added.
The state’s Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal announced that families affected by the flood will be provided rice, wheat, pulses as well as cooked meal packets, ANI reported.
President Ram Nath Kovind spoke to Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and expressed concern about the deaths and losses to properties in the state. “The Governor apprised him about rescue and relief works undertaken to mitigate people’s plight,” the president’s office tweeted.
Karnataka
Red alerts have been issued in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan and Kodagu districts for the next 24 hours, according to News18.
The Indian Coast Guard rescued 161 people from the flood-hit villages of Khargejoog, Unglijoog and Bodojoog Islands in Uttara Kannada district.
An Indian Naval Emergency Response Team was deployed on Saturday to rescue people stranded near Kadra Dam, Mallapur Kurnipet and Kaiga regions in Uttara Kannada, ANI reported.
Goa
The weather department has predicted heavy rainfall in the state over the next three days. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that the state was experiencing flooding of this magnitude for the first time, The Indian Express reported.
On Friday, intense rainfall submerged roads and bridges, damaged homes and forced the evacuation of more than 400 people, the newspaper reported. Two trains were also derailed by a landslide and an overflowing river.
Besides Maharashtra, the Air Force has deployed helicopters and other aircrafts in Goa too, for rescue operations.
Telangana
Several low-lying areas were inundated and road links were disrupted after heavy rain for the last two days, PTI reported. Disaster management personnel rescued a group of seven people who were stuck at an ashram in Nizamabad district.
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