Rains wreak havoc in Amravati; NDRF summoned

Nagpur, July 8: Two teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were summoned even as most major rivers were flowing above the danger mark and two persons were killed in rain-related incidents after heavy overnight rains in Amravati district.

The teams, each consisting of 30 men and equipped with rescue equipment like boats and rubber rafts, had been summoned from Talegaon-Dabhade in Pune district to assist the local administration in relief operations, Resident Deputy Collector Ravindra Thakre told sources.

One team had reached Amravati while the other was expected to reach by this evening, Mr Thakre said, adding that over 500 villages had been affected and 15,000 persons shifted to relief camps because of the floods caused by the heavy rains in the district last week and over the last two days.

The district had received 157 mm rains over the past 24 hours, causing the water levels in most major rivers in the district, including Purna, Chandrabhaga, Sapan, Bichhan and Sipna, to cross the danger mark, he said.

Meanwhile, two persons were killed in rain-related incidents in the district, official sources said. One person, identified as Anil Wardhe, was swept away in the Sapan river at Wasni village in Achalpur tehsil of the district, sources said. Another person, identified as Sukhadeo Narayan Ghom (55), was killed when his house collapsed in village Tongaon in Chandur Bazar tehsil of the district. A woman, Chandrabhaga Telkhade (50), was injured when her house collapsed in village Asegaon-Purna, also in Chandur Bazar tehsil.

An alert has been sounded in Amravati, Wardha, Yavatmal and Chandrapur districts following opening of all the 13 gates of the Upper Wardha dam as a precautionary measure after water level in the reservoir neared the overflow mark, sources added.

UNI

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