The death toll in rain-related incidents in Maharashtra rose to 164 after the recovery of 11 more bodies in Raigad and two each in Wardha and Akola, the state government said, while deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar toured flood-hit villages in Sangli district and said a decision on providing financial relief will be taken in a couple of days.
As many as 100 people were still missing and so far, 2,29,074 persons have been evacuated from the flood and rain-affected affected areas and moved to safer places, the government said in a statement in Mumbai. The administration of Raigad, the worst-hit district located in the coastal Konkan region, called off the search operations for 31 missing people in Taliye village which was ravaged by a massive landslide after heavy rains last week, an official said.
The state secretariat said 28 more deaths were reported from the Satara district in western Maharashtra and 8 from the Raigad district in the coastal region. The government said 60 deaths were so far reported in Raigad, 21 in Ratnagiri, 41 in Satara, 12 in Thane, seven in Kolhapur, four in suburban Mumbai, and two each in Sindhudurg and Pune.
A total of 875 villages in Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara and Pune were affected by the torrential rains, the statements aid. “Five relief camps have been set up in flood-hit Chiplun city in Ratnagiri district. Twenty five teams of the NDRF, four teams of the SDRF, two teams of the Coast Guard, five teams of the Navy and three teams of the Army are conducting the relief and rescue operations,” it said.
The state government has provided a emergency financial aid of £200,000 each to Raigad and Ratnagiri districts. Satara, Sangli, Pune, Kolhapur, Thane and Sindhudurg, also affected by rains, were provided with a financial aid of Rs 50,00,000 each, the statement said. Earlier in the day, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray visited Chiplun, the site of severe flooding, and interacted with residents, businessmen and shopkeepers. He promised them all help from the state government to restore normalcy in the area.
Besides landslides, several people were swept away in floodwaters. The landslide in Raigad district took place near Talai village in Mahad tehsil. NDRF teams and local officials were engaged in rescue work in Mahad. Landslides also hit Ambeghar and Mirgaon villages in Satara’s Patan tehsil, , burying a total of eight houses, said Ajay Kumar Bansal, superintendent of police, Satara rural.
Saurashtra rain fury claims 7 lives
As incessant rains continued to lash Saurashtra region of Gujarat, for the second consecutive day, four person have reportedly lost their lives in rain-related incidents since Sunday night. Rains continued in parts of Amreli, Junagadh and Gir Somnath districts on Monday. Three death were reported from Saurashtra region on Sunday. Sunday night, a woman and her son died in wall collapse in Rafaleshwar area of Morbi town. The woman Kesar Mathur (30), her son Pavan (12) and other family members were sleeping in a room near a ceramic factory. However, due to heavy rain, one of the walls of the room collapsed killing Kesar and Pavan. The woman’s husband Ramji and her other son Sonu suffered injuries. Both Kesar and Ramji used to work as labourers in a ceramic factory.
In another incident, a 35-year-old woman Baghi Rada, from Sonvadiya village of Jamjodhpur taluka in Jamnagar drowned in a lake on Monday morning. Sources said that Rada slipped into the lake due to heavy rain when she went there to attend nature’s call.
On Monday morning, police found the body of Ashok Vadecha (45) from a river near Dhutarpar village of Jamnagar district. He was drowned on Sunday evening in Fuljar river of the village. It is suspected that he drowned in the river.
Incessant rain was reported from several parts of Gujarat, causing waterlogging and damage at various places due to which 56 roads in the state were closed for vehicular movement, the state government said on Monday. The roads include a state highway, 54 roads under various panchayats and one uncategorized road. These were shut following the heavy downpour, while all the national highways passing through the state were open for traffic, the government release said.
10 killed in Karnataka
The flood situation in Karnataka continued to remain grim with 10 people losing their lives in rain related incidents and two reported missing over the past two days, even as Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said on Sunday that he would write to the Centre to release funds for carrying out flood relief work. Belagavi, Uttara Kannada, Dharwad and Haveri bore the brunt of the heavy downpour among the 11 affected districts, officials said.
Karnataka State Natural Disaster Management Authority commissioner Dr Manoj Rajan said 10 people have lost their lives in the state so far while two are still missing. He said 46,425 people have been evacuated to safety while over 31,000 people have been put up in 246 relief camps.
"We are receiving excellent coordination from SDRF, NDRF, Fire forces, Coast Guard, Navy, Army, Police, Dam authorities with untiring efforts of the District administration," Rajan said.
Meanwhile, Yediyurappa told reporters after inspecting flood affected areas in Belagavi district that he would write to the Centre to release funds to enable the state carry out relief work in the flood hit regions. The Chief Minister said 19,035 people in the district have been evacuated, while 8,975 people have been shifted to 89 relief centres.
