Floods kill 87, displace 400,000 in four states

Floods and landslides caused by incessant rains have claimed 87 lives in Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in the past few days, with the death toll feared to rise.

Kerala and Maharashtra were the worst-hit, accounting for 59 of these deaths since the beginning of the week.

At least 200 people died and thousands were displaced last month in Assam and Bihar due to heavy monsoon rains, even as some parts of the country battled a drought.

In the past week, rail and air services were hit and authorities scrambled to rescue people from low-lying and submerged areas. At least 411,537 persons have been displaced in these regions after needing rescue and relief, officials said.

Over 200,000 people have been plunged into darkness in Kolhapur and Sangli, two of the worst affected districts in Maharashtra, even as the closure of the Mumbai-Bengaluru National Highway for the fourth consecutive day has meant that delivery of essentials to states like Goa has been hit. An estimated 1 lakh hectare of crop has been destroyed in the state, where parts are facing drought-like situation, and losses are expected to run into hundreds of crores of rupees.

Also read | Rare bonding in Kolhapur as floods bring people closer to one another

Deaths were also reported from Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, where at least seven persons have died, and over 12 districts affected.

As many as 83 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been dispatched to four flood-hit states of Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and Gujarat for rescue and relief operations, the Union home ministry said on Friday.

The current flood situation in different parts of the country and the preparedness of central ministries and agencies to deal with it was reviewed at a high-level meeting chaired by Union minister of state for home Nityanand Rai.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued warning of heavy to very heavy rains in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Kerala over the next two days.

In Kerala, at least 30 people have been killed and several more are feared missing in two major landslides in Wayanad and Malappuram districts, nearly a year to the date after the state witnessed the worst floods of a century in 2018 that claimed 400 lives.

On Friday, a landscape altering landslide in tea-estate dotted hills of Wayanad district destroyed several buildings, including a temple and a mosque, and trapping several plantation workers in the rubble of their homes.

Wayanad Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting money for relief and rehabilitation of the district, and was assured that all help will be provided. “The Prime Minister has assured to provide any assistance required to mitigate the effects of the disaster,” Gandhi’s Wayanad MP office tweeted.

Meanwhile, there was no let up in the rains in Karnataka as joint rescue teams comprising personnel from the fire and emergency department, State Disaster Response Force, National Disaster Response Force and army have evacuated 124,291 people till Friday.

Four members of a family lost their lives and efforts were on to trace a fifth person after their house was hit by a landslide at Korangaala village in Kodagu district of Karnataka on Friday, police said.

Kodagu district, which borders Kerala, recorded 212 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Friday. This was followed by Uttara Kannada district on the coast, which received 109 mm of rainfall, and Shivamogga district in the hill region received 107 mm rainfall.

Also read | 30 killed, over 50 missing as flood situation aggravates in Kerala

The toll in Karnataka went up to 18, even as newly-appointed chief minister BS Yediyurappa, who has camped in flood-ravaged north Karnataka, announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of those killed due to flood and rain related incidents in the state.

“Of the Rs 200 crore the state government sought for relief management, the Centre has already released Rs 78 crore and the balance Rs 128 crore will be released soon,” Union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi told reporters in Hubli.

Over 200,000 people are living without electricity in Kolhapur and Sangli, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said here after conducting an aerial survey.

On the national highway between Bengaluru and Mumbai, which passes through Kolhapur, nearly 5,000 trucks and heavy vehicles have been stranded near Satara.

Union home minister Amit Shah spoke to Fadnavis and assured him of all help to deal with the flood situation in the state.

Karnataka agreed to release five lakh cusec of water from Almatti dam, located downstream on the Krishna river, which will help bring down the water level in the flood-affected areas in Western Maharashtra.

Five people have died in rain-related incidents in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore city, even as heavy rains lashed Nilgiris, Theni, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts, filling water bodies, including reservoirs, in these districts.

Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced a sum of Rs10 lakh each to the family of the five victims in the Nilgiris.

In Andhra Pradesh, chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy conducted an aerial survey of the flood-hit Polavaram and Devipatnam regions in east and west Godavari districts, even as the water level at Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowaleswaram crossed the second danger mark.

Over 13.47 lakh cusecs of floodwater was flowing into the SAC Barrage on the Godavari and that much was being discharged into the Delta canal systems and Bay of Bengal, according to officials.

In Odisha, a man was killed and his son went missing after being swept away in the gushing waters, while crossing a hilly stream in Belghar area of Kandhamal district.

Train services remained affected for the second day on Thursday, with the Indian Railways cancelling at least six trains for the day and three others on Friday, besides diverting a large number of passenger and express trains running on this route, an official said.

Some 150 families have been evacuated in four tehsils of Goa following heavy rains and release of water from Tillari dam on the Goa-Maharashtra border, according to the state government.

At least 22 crocodiles were rescued from residential areas of Gujarat’s Vadodara city and district in the last one week, a Gujarat forest department official said.

These reptiles had ventured into residential areas after water level in the Vishwamitri river and its tributary Dhadhar rose due to heavy rains.

First Published: Aug 09, 2019 23:38 IST