Maha: 20 killed in Chandrapur floods

Chandrapur (Maharashtra), Aug 3: Heavy rains and flood in the district have claimed as many as 20 lives in the recent past, District Collector Dr Deepak Mhaisekar said.

Rs 24 lakh have been distributed as compensation to the kin of the victims, he said adding that alert has been issued to the people from low-lying areas along the river banks in the city and the villages in the district due to a forecast that water level might increase further in next 48 hours.

"28,000 families have been shifted to safer places so far and the number of families that were affected due to floods is 9198," he informed.

The relief operations are going on war-footing basis and there is every chance that water level might raise further due to release of water from upper and lower Wardha projects in Amaravati district into river Wardha.

Water is being released into Wainganga river from Gosikhurd project in Bhandara district.

Similarly, Isapur project in Yavatmal district into river Painganga. All the rivers are overflowing resulting in rise of water level in Irai river that flows on the borders Chandrapur city and Ballarpur town.

All the eleven irrigation projects in the district have over flown due to excessive rains. As a result, many of the localities in the city namely, Pathanpura, Vitthal Mandir Ward, Balaji Ward, Binba Ward, Omkar Nagar, Rehmat Nagar, Sisiters Colony, Jagannath Baba Nagar, Haveli Garden, Raj Nagar and other areas were inundated by the flood waters of Irai.

According to the ongoing survey on crop destruction, it was informed that more than 50 per cent of crops have been destroyed in around 1.50 lakh hectares of farm land in the district while the loss was less than 50 per cent in over 70,000 hectares in the district.

PTI