Pune rains: Heavy rains claim 11 lives

At least 11persons were dead in rain-related incidents in Pune as overnight rains on Thursday lashed Maharashtra's cultural capital.

Teams of the Pune Municipal Corporation and National Disaster Response Force has been mobilised.

There were incidents 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.

Parts of Pune city and the district received more than 100 mm rainfall, reports reaching Mumbai said.

Pune collector Naval Kishore Ram has declared holiday for Thursday in the Pune city and neighbouring areas of Purandar, Baramati, Bhor, and Haveli.

The Mantralya control room in Mumbai and the Disaster Management Unit is constantly monitoring the situation.

Water discharge of 13,000 cusecs is scheduled from Khadakwasla dam near the city and the civic administration has so far evacuated over 500 people from low-lying areas.
Traffic in the Pune city, the cultural capital of Maharashtra, has been badly affected.

Waterlogging was reported from low-lying areas of the city.

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra 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.

State Government is also closely monitoring the dam discharge.