13 dead in Maha rain fury

Seven teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were deployed in Thane, Sangli, Kolhapur, Satara and Raigad, while State Response Disaster Force (SDRF) teams were sent for rescue operations to Nagpur and Gadchiroli

Mumbai/Nagpur: Nature unleashed its fury as heavy rains battered many parts of the state on Thursday, including the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Konkan, Vidarbha and parts of western Maharashtra. According to official figures, 13 people died in rain-related disasters like lightning and flash floods on Thursday.

Heavy rains have been on in Nagpur since Wednesday morning. Residents of low-lying areas woke up to flooded streets, under-bridges and houses after rain lashed the city in the wee hours of Thursday. The heavy downpour and waterlogging led to traffic disruptions in several parts of the city. (Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

Seven teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were deployed in Thane, Sangli, Kolhapur, Satara and Raigad, while State Response Disaster Force (SDRF) teams were sent for rescue operations to Nagpur and Gadchiroli.

The state government on Thursday also announced a four-day holiday for the legislature so that legislators could go to their constituencies hit by rains. The government also asked the local administration to stay alert and declare holidays to schools whenever the weather warranted. The legislature session will resume on Wednesday.

Due to the incessant rain, all the 14 main rivers in Raigad, Thane and Palghar flowed above the alert level, leading to crisis situations. While the rising of the Surya river in Palghar and the Panchganga river in Kolhapur created a flood-like situation on their banks, residents of 20 villages living on river banks in Raigad were shifted to other places. Traffic on the Mumbai-Goa highway came to a standstill on account of heavy rains in Ratnagiri.

Havoc was also unleashed by the lightning that accompanied the rains. According to official reports, eight people died in five separate locations after being struck by lightning in Chandrapur district on Wednesday evening. A 45-year-old woman, Geeta Dhonge, was struck by lightning while returning from a farm at Betala village in Bramhapuri tehsil, while two women, Kalpana Prakash Jhode (40) and Anjana Pustode (50), were working in the fields in the Sindewahi area when they were hit by a bolt of lightning. Both died on the spot.

In Khairgaon in Korpana area, a 25-year-old farmer, Purushottam Parachake, was spraying pesticide in his fields when lightning killed him. Yet another incident occurred at Chivanda in Gondpipari tehsil, where a forest labourer Govinda Tekam (56) died from a bolt of lightning while working on tree plantation activities for the forest department.

Heavy rains have been on in Nagpur since Wednesday morning. Residents of low-lying areas woke up to flooded streets, under-bridges and houses after rain lashed the city in the wee hours of Thursday. The heavy downpour and waterlogging led to traffic disruptions in several parts of the city.

Several areas were inundated in Nagpur city and its rural areas, following 173.7 mm rainfall in a span of 12 hours. The SDRF team had to rescue very many stranded families. At least two people drowned. “At around 7.30 am, Ravichandra Gautam Gondane (35) drowned after he was swept away by a flooded stream in Jattarodi area,” chief fire officer B Chandankhede said. “His body was recovered at 12 noon on Thursday.”

In Nagpur rural, Prakash Barwe (42), a resident of Shivkrupa Nagar Besa, drowned in Besa Nala. The local police, with the help of SDRF jawans, launched a search operation to trace him. In Hingna, the SDRF team rescued stranded 10 persons and three children from Hanuman Nagar area after the water level in the Vena river and a nullah went up.

The July rainfall has more than made up for the dry spell in the month of June. Due to heavy rains in the last two weeks, the state has received 104 percent of its total average rainfall so far. As per reports released by the chief minister’s secretariat, 178 tehsils received more than 100 percent rainfall, 130 tehsils received 75 to 100 percent rain and 58 tehsils got 50 to 75 percent rainfall. Due to the rains, 85 percent of kharif-sowing has been completed in the state.