Transport, power, mobile services hit as floods hit Western Maharashtra, Marathwada regions

Several towns were inundated disrupting the normal life and movement as Western Maharashtra and Marathwada as the parts of the state continued to receive heavy rainfall on Thursday.

The rail and road traffic, power supply and mobile services were affected in the two regions.

Meanwhile, the rain-related toll in Maharashtra has mounted 10 with four more deaths being reported during the day.

The Solapur, Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur and Pune districts of Western Maharashtra and Osmanabad, Beed and Latur districts of Marathwada were impacted by the downpour, reports reaching here said.

The Chandrabhaga river (Solapur), Krishna river (Sangli), Panchganga (Kolhapur), Terna river (in Latur and Osmananbad) swelled because of heavy rains over the past two to three days.

There has been extensive damage to crops – and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has asked the divisional commissioners and collectors to determine the extent of losses.

“The NDRF teams have been deployed in Osmanabad, at Pandharpur and Solapur, and Baramati in Pune, while the army, navy and air force have been kept on high alert to help out in any emergencies,” Thackeray said.

More than 1,500 persons have been shifted to safety by district administrations.

The mobile network was badly affected because of a snag in the Pune facility of Vodafone Idea Ltd.

“Heavy rain in Pune has resulted in flooding of some areas including one of our key sites in the city. This has caused partial disruption in services for some customers. Our technical team is working to fully restore services soon,” a Vodafone Idea spokesperson said.

The road traffic from Maharashtra to neighbouring Karnataka and Telangana states were badly affected because of roads and culverts coming under flood waters.

So far, six deaths have been reported in Maharashtra – when a retaining wall collapsed in the banks of Chandrabhaga river in the spiritual town of Pandharpur in Solapur district.

A heavy rainfall warning has been sounded for Mumbai and the coastal Konkan belt.

There were heavy overnight rains in the Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR) comprising Mumbai and North Konkan districts of Thane, Palghar and Raigad. The twin South Konkan districts of Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg is also expected to receive heavy rainfall.

The weatherman has asked fisherfolk not to venture into the choppy Arabian Sea for the next couple of days.

“Depression weakens into a well Marked Low Pressure Area over south Madhya Maharashtra Wednesday evening. To emerge into Arabian Sea and intensify further,” the IMD said in its forecast.

Heavy overnight rains lashed the Pune district resulting in inundation in several places including the Budhwar Peth and Shaniwar Wada areas. Around midnight, heavy waterlogging was reported off the Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati temple, one of the prominent landmarks of Maharashstra’s culture capital.