Six deaths in monsoon in Maharashtra: 70,000 evacuated

New Delhi, July 30 (UNI) Six people died in various rain-related incidents and over 70,000 were evacuated by the Army in Sangli and Satara districts in western Maharashtra during the past 24 hours.

In Maharashtra, over 70,000 people were evacuated by the Army from Sangli, Satara and Solapur districts in Western Maharshtra with the Krishna River flowing above the danger level and heavy rains lashing the region since the last few days.

''64,831 people from 53 villages in Sangli were shifted to safer places. Likewise, 4675 people from 50 villages in Satara and 500 people from Pandharpur in Solapur district were moved to higher reaches. In Kolhapur, 176 families from 22 villages were shifted,'' official sources said.

Six people, including three women and two children, lost their lives in rain related incidents in these districts, sources added.

In Nashik and Konkan regions, heavy rains caused water-logging but the situation was reported to be under control and no untoward incidents were reported. The Godavari river was flowing below the danger mark in Nashik, officials informed.

However, the rains have now subsided and a semblance of normalcy was returning, sources added.

Meanwhile, heavy rains disturbed normal life in major cities, towns and villages of Gujarat as rains played havoc claiming over a dozen lives in the last 36 hours and forcing evacuations of thousands of people.

According to the official sources, the deaths were due to drowning, striking of lightning and building or land collapses.

With 12 more people dying in the current spell of monsoon, the total death toll in this season has risen to 34.

Home Secretary V K Duggal chaired an inter-ministerial meeting to review the situation here in the wake of heavy rains in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

The meeting held last night was attended by officials from Ministry of Defence, Air Force, India Meteorological Department, Central Water Commission and resident commissioners of Maharashtra.

One army column each has been deployed in Satara, Sangli, Sholapur, Kolhapur, besides keeping one NDRF (national disaster management force) battalion each as standby in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Two choppers in Pune are on standby In rain-related incidents, at least five people lost their lives in Petlad taluka of Anand district in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, a body of an aged person was fished out from a lake in Chharni area of the Vadodara city today.

The authorities evacuated more than 25,500 people from low-lying areas in South and Central Gujarat following heavy rains in the region, even as an alert was sounded in the villages on the banks of River Narmada, official sources said.

In the wake of heavy rain in all parts of the state, the Western Railway Authority cancelled as many as five trains here while several others were running, arriving or departuring late by several hours.

The sources said the trains that had been cancelled were Valsad-Ahmedabad, Viramgam-Valsad, Surat-Ahmedabad, Karnavati Express (both side, Ahmedabad and Mumbai) and Ahmedabad-Vadodara Inter-city trains.

One person was killed in Uttar Pradesh as heavy rains accompanied by strong winds lashed several areas in the state, taking the death toll in rain-related incidents during this season to 122.

The victim drowned in Sai river, which is in spate, in Jaunpur.

According to the Central Water Commission, the Ghagra river was flowing five cm above the danger mark whereas in Ayodhya its level was 18 cm above and in Turtipar it was flowing 46 cm below the danger level.

In Lakhimpur, the Sharda river wreaked havoc there, resulting in more than 100 incidents of house collapse. The authorities have started rescue and relief operation there.

The level of the Sharda river was four cm below the danger mark in Paliankala and in Banbasa the level of the river was 24 cm below it.

UNI Team KD RP DB2021