So far, 2.45 lakh residents of Sangli and Kolhapur have been shifted to 165 temporary camps.As many as 46 villages in Kolhapur and Sangli districts remained disconnected, with flood water surrounding them, and the administration was airdropping food and drinking water using helicopters, Pune Divisional Commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar said. Although the rain continues intermittently, water levels in flooded areas had gone down and
were expected to recede further in coming days with discharge from the dam being altered favourably, he said. Of the villages cut off from the rest of the district, 28 are in Sangli and 18 in Kolhapur.
So far, 2.45 lakh residents of Sangli and Kolhapur have been shifted to 165 temporary camps. The number of deaths due to flood went up to 29 by Friday evening, with two people drowning since Thursday. Nine people were still missing after a boat capsized in Bramhanal village in Sangli. Of the 34 passengers, 16 were rescued and nine dead bodies were recovered.
“The discharge from Almatti river has been increased up to 4.5 lakh cusecs. This will help the water levels go down. The water level in Kolhapur has already gone down by 2 feet in Kolhapur and 3 inches in Sangli,” said Mhaisekar.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the floods and rescue and relief operations. “The Centre and state along with neighbouring state is closely working to bring water levels down. Rescue operations are going on a war footing,” Fadnavis said.
Read | Farmland under water, crop loss feared in over 34,000-35,000 hectares
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa reaffirmed that water discharge from Almatti dam had increased to 4,50,000 cusec. The water discharge capacity of the dam is normally 3,80,316 cusec, but after a request from Maharashtra, the Karnataka government raised the discharge level. In Sangli, 32 teams of various agencies including National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Army, Navy, district administration, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and Coast Guard were involved in rescue operations. In Kolhapur, there were 48 teams.
Major Gaurav Sharma, Column Commander leading a rescue operation in Sangli, said his unit rescued 10,000 people. “One challenge is dealing with anxiety and trauma of the flood-affected. After rescue, our effort is to move them to safer locations and provide provisions and medicine. Considering the number of people stranded in houses, it will take us 72 hours to evacuate everyone.”
Ramchandra Koli, a 30-year-old plumber from Sangle Wadi in Sangli who was rescued by the Army on Friday, said, “For five-six days we survived only on tea and biscuits. After our houses were submerged, we stayed in a hall opened up by the kind owner and waited for the Army to save us.” Koli’s mother Yalwa said that her elderly mother went into a shock due to the flood and devastation. Prem Chawla, a cloth trader from Sangli, said he suffered a loss of Rs 10-12 lakh. “Two floors of my shop are inundated,” he said.
Around 16,000 vehicles were lined up on Mumbai-Bengaluru highway, which has been closed since Wednesday. Officials said that when the water recedes, vehicles carrying food and fuel will be allowed to go first. Mhaisekar said that ‘ad hoc help’ of Rs 76 crore has been received from the state government and it will be given to those affected by the flood. The compensation amount will be Rs 15,000 per family in urban areas and Rs 10,000 per family in rural areas.
