11,000 hit as rivers swell after heavy rain in Madhya Pradesh

Nagpur: Heavy rain in Madhya Pradesh has left rivers in Vidarbha flooded. More than 11,000 persons from 25 villages in Nagpur district have been displaced, making it comparable to the floods of 1994.
Two teams of the National Disaster Relief Force and one of State Disaster Relief Force were pressed into action. The district administration has also requisitioned Army’s help, which will start operations from Sunday.
Water released from Totladoh and Kamptee Khairi inundated Kamptee, Mouda and Parseoni and Kuhi tehsils. Pench water further merged into Kanhan river near Kamptee, leaving parts of the town marooned.
The flood-situation has also led to water shortage in Nagpur city. According to a spokesperson from Orange City Water Ltd, the Kanhan water treatment plant (WTP) intake wells are submerged in the flood waters. “The wells are operating at half the capacity, thus reducing water pumping and affecting the supply to Ashi Nagar, Satranjipura and Nehru Nagar zones. Water supply to these areas will be restricted as the flood waters will take minimum three to four days to recede,” the spokesperson said.
The gates of Chaurai dam on Pench river in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, have been opened, leading to flooding on the Maharashtra side towards the Totladoh dam whose all gates have been opened up to five metres.
The displaced persons have been shifted to schools and other government buildings. Kamptee is worst hit, with 6,600 persons affected, followed by Mouda with 1,500 persons. The number of affected persons and villages is expected to increase, said a source in the collectorate.
In Kamptee, over 250 persons from Sonegaon Raja village were shifted earlier based on the flood warning, but they returned to their village. “Rescue operation was again launched in the evening,” said an official in the district administration.
Residents of Kamptee shared videos of their inundated localities. In one of the pictures, residents were seen wading through chest-high water to reach a safer place.
In neighbouring Chhindwara district, 4,500 persons have been displaced. A Mi-17 helicopter from the Indian Air Force’s base at Nagpur flew to rescue six persons stranded at two of villages in the district. They were among the 20-25 persons rescued from critical situation. Another helicopter was kept standby for Nagpur.
According to the calculations made at the time of finalizing the dam’s design, Friday’s flood was equal to the deluge estimated once in 500 years, said a senior official in the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC).
Currently, there is an inflow of over 9,000 cubic metres per seconds (cumecs) of water in the Pench river, of which 6,600 is being released. This is having a cascading effect on the Kanhan river leading to flooding ot nearby areas as there is no dam on the river. Another 6,800 cumecs are flowing out of Kamptee Khairi also.
“Had the Totladoh dam not been there, as much as 16,000 cumecs of water may have flown into the Kanhan river, leading to situation turning worse,” the source said. Attempts are being made to contain the water at Totladoh.
Currently, as much as 13,000 cumecs of water is flowing from Kanhan. The water is further flowing into Wainganga river. This has led to record release of water from the Gosikhurd dam on the river. Now, as much as 21,000 cumecs of water is being released from the dam with a likelihood of the flow being increased. “This is next to the flow in 1994, when there was no dam on the river, due to an inflow of 27,000 cumecs,” the source said.
Elsewhere in region, there are chances that Gadchiroli may see more floods if the rain continues. There is no dam but one barrage (Jisdoh) in the district which may have to be opened if the inflow increases. The Medigatta barrage on the Telangana side may be opened too, affecting Gadchiroli.
No major floods have been reported in west Vidarbha but mild rain continues.
The Totladoh dam had run dry two years ago, leading to water crisis in the city. The Madhya Pradesh government had then stopped releasing water from Chaurai dam on its side of the Pench river due to less storage there.