As many as 84,452 people, including over 40,000 in Kolhapur district, were shifted to safer places in Western Maharashtra's Pune division on Friday as rains battered the region and rivers were in spate, officials said. The Panchganga river near the Kolhapur city was flowing at a level higher than that witnessed during the peak of floods in 2019, officials said. - PTI.
Based on request received for assistance from civil authorities, a total of seven Naval Flood Rescue Teams (FRT) from Mumbai have been deployed to Ratnagiri and Raigarh districts commencing PM 22 July. One Seaking 42C Helicopter from, Mumbai was deployed for aeriel reconnaissance at Poladpur/Raigad during on 23 July. One ALH helo from Goa was positioned at Ratnagiri for relief/rescue AM 23 July, Additional Flood Rescue Teams are being maintained on a high degree of readiness at Mumbai, for immediate deployment.
Eleven people including eight Nepalese workers were rescued in the nick of time before the bus in which they were traveling was swept away in a flooded river in Western Maharashtra's Kolhapur district on early Friday morning, police said.
As many as 129 people have died in rain-related incidents including landslides in Maharashtra in the last 48 hours, a senior official from the state disaster management department said on Friday evening. This included 38 deaths in a landslide in a village in the coastal Raigad district's Mahad tehsil on Thursday, he told PTI.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday condoled the loss of lives in a landslide in Maharashtra's coastal Raigad district, and appealed to party workers to assist in relief and rescue work.
Thirty-six people were killed in a landslide near Talai village in Mahad tehsil of Raigad, police said. The incident occurred on Thursday evening. - PTI.
With the unprecedented rains and resultant heavy flow of water in various rivers, a number of areas in many states are likely to be impacted by floods. Presently the districts of Ratnagiri, Raigad, Pune, Satara and Kolhapur and Sangli in Maharashtra have been affected. Indian Army based on request by the civil administration has mobilised flood relief and rescue teams to assist the local administration in flood affected areas.
A total of 15 relief and rescue team comprising of troops from Aundh Military Station and Bombay Engineer Group based at Pune have been deployed overnight in affected areas of Ratnagiri, Kolhapur and Sangli. These columns will be assisting the civil administration in rescue of local population stranded in submerged areas till normalcy is restored. Lt Gen JS Nain, GOC-In-C Southern Army stated that the Indian Army stands with people in these testing times and all assistance will be provided by the Army in the affected areas. The flood relief columns include engineering efforts and medical teams from Army for providing necessary first aid and medicines to locals being evacuated from flood prone areas.
At least six persons died in Satara district of Western Maharashtra on Friday in rain-related incidents including landslides while three persons were missing, a senior official from the state Disaster Management Department said. - PTI.
At least 20 people are feared trapped in landslides in two locations in the Patan tehsil of Western Maharashtra's Satara district which has been battered by rain, police said on Friday.
The Kolhapur Zilla Sahakari Dudh Utpadak Sangh (KZSDUS), which owns the milk brand Gokul, on Friday said there will be no supply of its pouch milk to Mumbai on Saturday due to flooding in Kolhapur, Sangli and other districts ofMaharashtra.
The flooding in parts of the state has not only affected the collection of the milk, but even its transportation has come to the halt due to closure of state and national highways, Kolhapur Zilla Sahakari Dudh Utpadak Sangh said in a statement. - PTI.
The Indian Air Force's Mi-17 helicopters rescued two persons stranded in inundated areas of coastal Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra on Friday, said a defense release. The Air Force has kept its two Mi-17V5 and two Mi-17 helicopters ready for rescue operations in the region which has been battered by heavy rains, it said. It did not give specifics of the two rescue operations by choppers. - PTI.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday issued a red alert for six districts of Maharashtra which have been already pounded by heavy rains, forecasting "extremely heavy" rainfall and recommending preventive actions.
On 22 July 2021, at around 1:30 pm, the IAF received a message for requirement of flood relief operations in Chiplun and Khed town of Ratnagiri district Maharashtra. When the weather permitted, a Mi-17 I V helicopter got airborne from Mumbai for Ratnagiri at 3:40 pm and landed at Ratnagiri at 5 pm. Bad weather did not permit any further operations in the evening.
Operations have resumed today with the helicopter deployed at Ratnagiri along with another one flown in from Mumbai. An NDRF team of 10 personnel with approximately one ton load has also been flown in by IAF to Ratnagiri.
A helicopter from Ratnagiri got airborne at 11:35 am, carried out reconnaissance and rescued two people before landing back at Ratnagiri.
The IAF is also positioning two Mi-17V5s and two Mi-17s for flood relief operations. Another helicopter is standing by at Pune for any emergent requirement.
The rail traffic in the rain-hit Chiplun city in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district could be restored by 6 pm, after a damaged track on the Konkan railway (KR) line is repaired, an official said on Friday.
Incessant rains and resultant flooding have washed out the ballast below the railway tracks and embankment in several patches between Chiplun and Kamathe section, said L K Verma, chief spokesperson of KR.
Ministerof State for Home and the Guardian Ministerof Kolhapur Satej Patil has directed the district administration to shift people and livestock affected due to the flooding to safer places immediately.He has also directed that traffic bediverted through Kognoli on Pune-Bengaluruhighway to access Chandgad, Aajara and Gadhinglaj.
More than 55 to 60 people were killed and over two dozen missing as a series of landslides shocked the coastal Konkan belt and Western Maharashtra.
The Maharashtra government confirmed 40 to 45 deaths in a series of incidents in flood-battered neighbouring regions, which incidentally has also has a Covid-19 test positivity rate higher than the state’s average.
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