Mumbai: Reservoirs fill up, villages cut off; 40 families evacuated

A submerged riverside road near Narayan Peth in Pune on Wednesday. Arul Horizon

Parts of Maharashtra have received heavy rain over the past two days with Konkan region witnessing the heaviest downpour. The intensity of the rain in Konkan over the past two days has been such that the seven districts, which make up the region, got over 50 per cent of their average rainfall in September in the past two days alone. Palghar received the highest amount of rain at 243 mm in the past two days. The total rainfall that the district received in September now stands at 350 mm.

In Palghar district, a number of Australian Pine trees that are popular tourist attraction in Kelve were uprooted during the rain. In Kudal taluka in Sindhudurg district, communication was cut off in 27 villages of the area. Pune and Kolhapur also received a fair amount of rain, close to 30 mm and 56 mm, in the past two days. The gates of Khadakvasla and Radhanagri dams had to be opened after the reservoirs filled up.

In Nashik, there was a heavy downpour with the Godavari river in spate. The banks of the Godavari are popular places of pilgrimage. A large number of people who had turned up to pray for the souls of their ancestors during Pitrupaksha were forced to make their offerings on the streets as the ghats of the river were completely submerged.

40 families evacuated after part of barrage damaged, says NDRF

As many as 40 families from Arangaon village in Ahmednagar tehsil of Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra were evacuated to a safer place after the barrage on a river near the village was reportedly damaged due to heavy rains on Wednesday night, officials from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said.

Anupam Shrivastava, the Commandant of the Fifth Battalion of the NDRF stationed in Talegaon Dabhade near Pune, told The Indian Express, “We have received primary information that a kachcha dam on a river near Arangaon village in Ahmednagar tehsil was damaged and due to the resultant water discharge, a village was surrounded by water. Our team was immediately rushed to the spot and as a precautionary measure, we began to evacuate the houses surrounded by water sometime around 11.30 pm as per our information. There are no reported casualties in the incident.”

Duty officer at the Ahmednagar Police control room said that they were monitoring the situation closely and officers from the local police stations and revenue department reached the area immediately after reports were received.

“As a further precaution, houses in many more villages downstream were asked to stay alert and emergency systems were put on standby for evacuation if needed,” the officer said.