Mumbai: Over 1.32 lakh people have been shifted to safer places in Western Maharashtra with the flood situation remaining especially grim in Kolhapur and Sangli districts of the region on Wednesday following heavy rains.
Sixteen deaths in rain- and flood-related incidents have been reported from western Maharashtra in the last seven days, officials said.
In Kolhapur, water entered the collector’s office, while the State Transport bus stand in Sangli was flooded. The road connectivity was severely hit between two district.
“In Pune region (comprising districts of Pune, Satara, Solapur, Sangli and Kolhapur), so far 1.32 lakh people have been evacuated to safer places,” said Dr Deepak Mhaisekar, divisional commissioner, Pune. In Sangli and Kolhapur, over 53,000 and 51,000 people were evacuated, respectively, followed by 13,000 in Pune district.
“The road communication between Sangli and Kolhapur and between Kolhapur and Belgaum (in Karnataka) has been affected,” said Mhaisekar, adding that people should avoid traveling on Mumbai-Bengaluru national highway (NH 4).
In Solapur district, 2,500 people were moved to safer places in the temple town of Pandharpur after the discharge of water from the overflowing Ujani dam increased, he added.
In Satara, the flood situation was grim in Wai, Karad and Mahabaleshwar and 6,000 people were evacuated.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis reviewed the flood situation at a meeting in Mumbai. He told reporters later that the state received 104 pc of average rain during June-August period, most of it in western Maharashtra and Konkan.
In Kolhapur district, 204 out of total 1,234 villages have been affected due to the floods, resident deputy collector Sanjay Shinde said.
Five teams of the Western Naval Command and four teams of divers from the naval base INS Hansa in Goa have been deployed for rescue operations in Kolhapur and other areas, a defence spokesperson said.
