Rains claim 25 lives in Marathwada; CM to visit tomorrow

Aurangabad, Maharashtra, Aug 6 (UNI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is scheduled to visit flood-affected Marathwada region tomorrow as heavy rains continued to play havoc in the region, claiming 25 lives during the last two days.

He will arrive here from Mumbai and proceed to Nanded to oversee relief and rehabilitation operations there, official sources said here.

The rains have disrupted normal life in the region completely with people having to cope with a flood situation.

According to reports reaching here, 24 persons have died during the last two days in incidents of wall collapses and other rain-related incidents in the Marathwada region. Another person was electrocuted after coming in contact with a live wire.

Seven deaths were reported from Nanded district in the region while Parbhani and Jalna districts reported five deaths each. There were four deaths in Latur district and two persons each were killed in Aurangabad and Beed districts.

Four persons were swept away in the flood waters, three of them in Nanded district and one at Beed, official sources said. Efforts are on to trace them.

Nanded, Parbhani and Hingoli are the worst-affected districts due to incessant rains in Marathwada region and at least 150 military jawans are currently engaged in relief and rescue operations, Deputy Divisional Commissioner Dilip Shinde said.

Sixty-eight tehsils out of the 76 in Marathwada region have recorded heavy rains during the last 24 hours. About 30,000 people residing in low-lying areas, have been shifted to safer places after rain water entered their houses.

Communication lines have been totally cut off in over 40 villages in the region as almost all the rivers in Nanded, including Godavari, are flowing three metres above the danger mark since last evening, official sources said.

About 11 boats have been sent to the flood-affected areas to assist the relief and rehabilitation work, which is being monitored by Divisional Commissioner Sanjay Kumar at Kalamnuri in Hingoli district and State Government's Prinicipal Secretary (Urban Development) Ramanand Tiwari at Nanded respectively, Deputy Divisional Commissioner Dilip Shinde told reporters here.

Seven Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans, who were swept away in the flood waters at Isli village in Mudkhed tehsil of Nanded district late last evening, were reportedly safe but are yet to be rescued from the flood, official sources in Nanded said.

According to rainfall figures available at the divisional headquarters here, Hingoli district has recorded a highest rainfall of 272 mm in the last 24 hours followed by Parbhani (235 mm), Nanded (158.9 mm), Jalna (144.7 mm), Latur (124.6 mm), Beed (123.5 mm), Aurangabad (85.3 mm) and Osmanabad (70.9 mm).

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