Heavy rains in Pune claims 12 lives, 15000 evacuated

At least 12 persons lost their lives in rain-related incidents in Pune as incessant rains lashed Maharashtra's cultural capital on Thursday. At least four persons are reported missing and nearly 15,000 had to be evacuated from the Baramati tehsil.

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and revenue minister Chandrakant Patil are personally supervising the rescue and relief operations. Fadnavis spoke to Baramati MLA and former deputy chief minister, Ajit Pawar and assured of all help from the state administration. Teams of the Pune Municipal Corporation and National Disaster Response Force were mobilised.

There were also reports of a couple of landslides along the Pune-Satara highway.

Six persons died in a compound wall collapse at Sahakar Nagar while some are still feared trapped. At least two persons were found dead inside cars in the Katraj-Kondwa and Saswad areas. Four persons were swept away in floodwater in Khed-Shivpur village on the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway. Parts of Pune city and the district received more than 100 to 150 mm rainfall, reports said.

Pune collector Naval Kishore Ram has declared a holiday on Thursday in the Pune city and neighbouring areas of Purandar, Baramati, Bhor and Haveli. Ram and superintendent of police (Pune rural), Sandip Patil ensured that people were moved to safer locations. The Mantralaya control room in Mumbai and the Disaster Management Unit are constantly monitoring the situation.

Water discharge of 13,000 cusecs is scheduled from the Khadakwasla dam near the city and the civic administration has so far evacuated over 500 people from low-lying areas. Water discharge from Nazare dam located in Saswad was increased to 85,000 cusecs. The State Government is also closely monitoring the dam discharge.

Traffic in Pune has been badly affected as waterlogging was also reported from low-lying areas of the city.

Fadnavis condoled the death of people in the rain-related incidents. "Pained to know about the loss of lives in and around Pune due to heavy rains. My deepest condolences to the families. We are providing all possible assistance needed," Fadnavis said.

Officials said that two NDRF teams are deployed in Pune and two in Baramati. One more NDRF team is on way to Baramati.