At least 10 dead in rains across state, water released from dams causes more flooding

Five people died due to rain-related incidents while one was swept away by floodwater in Badlapur in Thane district

MUMBAI: At least ten persons died in rain-related incidents across Maharashtra over 24 hours, and more than 11,800 were rescued from different parts of the state, officials said on Sunday. According to the state disaster management department and other officials, four persons lost their lives in Nashik district, including three due to a house collapse, two each in Dharashiv and Ahilyanagar, and one each in Jalna and Yavatmal.

People walk through a water-logged street in Dadar. (Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

Till Sunday evening, over 11,000 people in the state were shifted to safer locations by the administration. Of these, 7,761 people were from flood-hit Marathwada, where seven deaths were reported. NDRF teams evacuated over 25 people in Vaijapur and Gangapur in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar on Sunday evening.

In Beed, the National Disaster Relief Force rescued 12 persons who were stranded at a temple in Sangvi village while around 12 villagers were airlifted by helicopter in Ahilyanagar district. In Solapur, 4,002 people were rescued from the floods, and a total of 6,500 people took shelter in relief camps.

The most affected districts were Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Ahilyanagar and Nashik, which received 110.3 mm, 81.8 mm and 76.6 mm of rainfall respectively. The India Meteorological Department has predicted increased rainfall in Maharashtra with a red alert in Palghar and parts of Nashik and an orange alert for Thane, Pune, Raigad on Monday.

Due to heavy rains in the catchment areas of dams, the authorities began discharging water from major dams such as Jayakwadi, Koyana, Gosikhurd, Gangapur, Ujani and Bhatsa into the rivers. However, this resulted in floods along the banks, and residents here were put on high alert. In Nashik district, the release of water from the Gangapur dam into the Godavari river resulted in a flood situation in Nashik city, with water entering residential areas along the Godavari banks. Parts of Shirdi city also got submerged.

Jitendra Papalkar, divisional commissioner of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, said that in the wake of the discharge from Jayakwadi Dam, alerts had been sounded. “The inflow of water in the dam increased owing to heavy rainfall in Ahilyanagar on Saturday, and the discharge is expected to increase substantially,” he said. “We have asked the Beed administration to evacuate more people to safer places. We have the NDRF and an army battalion on alert in Dharashiv, Beed and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar.” Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar reported the highest number of people (2,257) shifted to safe places.

“Many state highway and district roads connecting to other districts in Dharashiv are submerged and have been shut down to vehicular traffic. Similarly in Latur, a few district roads in Ahmedur were shut. This led to the disconnection of a few villages in these districts with other parts of the district,” said officials from the collectorates of these two districts.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis reviewed the relief and rescue operations in Marathwada and Solapur with district collectors, instructing them to provide food, shelter, and other essential aid and begin shifting villagers along river banks to safer places. Disaster management minister Girish Mahajan was sent to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar to monitor the situation in Marathwada.

According to reports, the agriculture department has estimated crop loss on 3.791 million hectares of land so far. The number could go up, given the forecast that the spell may last till the end of this month, said officials. ₹10,000 is being given as urgent assistance along with 10 kg of rice and 10 kg of wheat to the people affected by floods in several villages.