At least 17 killed in Maharashtra due to heavy rain in two days

The remnants of cyclone Gulab resulted in heavy rain in the whole of central Maharashtra and parts of Vidarbha, Konkan and other regions over the past two days. The havoc led to the deaths of at least 17 people, most being in central Maharashtra, while hundreds of villagers have been relocated to safer places.

The remnants of cyclone Gulab resulted in torrential downpour in the whole of central Maharashtra and parts of Vidarbha, Konkan and other regions over the past two days. The havoc led to the deaths of at least 17 people, most being in central Maharashtra, while hundreds of villagers have been relocated to safer places.

The heavy rain led to the deaths of at least 17 people, most being in central Maharashtra, while hundreds of villagers have been relocated to safer places. (HT)

Two teams of NDRF and a chopper-bound rescue team from the Air Force rescued more than 50 people stranded in parts of Latur and Osmanabad in central Maharashtra as discharge from the dams led to the submergence of the villages.

Ten people in central Maharashtra (Marathwada), six in Vidarbha, one in Nashik have been reported dead due to rain-related incidents in past two days. In Umarkhed in Yavatmal in Vidarbha, a state transport bus fell in a rivulet, while crossing a bridge over it. Four passengers were killed and two others were rescued by the villagers.

All the eight districts of Marathwada received heavy rain in the past two days. 17 people were stranded in village near Manjara dam in Beed after the district administration started discharge from the dam. 17 people in Isthal village in Osmanabad and 19 in Ambejogai tehsil were rescued by NDRF and the local administration. Out of 445 revenue circles in eight districts of central Maharashtra, 182 circles have reported more than 65mm rainfall, which is a parameter of heavy rainfall.

More than 250 cattle have been reported dead and hundreds are feared to have drowned in the affected districts.

SP Savargaonkar, assistant commissioner, Aurangabad division, said 10 people have been reported dead in eight districts of central Maharashtra. “Eight districts have received 996mm rain this season, against its average of 679 mm. Nanded, Jalna, Parbhani have reported much more their average rainfall this year. Total of 69 people died this year in monsoon-related incidents, 10 of them are in the past two days. We have two teams of NDRF deployed in Osmanabad and Latur each. The teams have rescued more than 50 people stranded in submerged areas of Beed, Latur and Osmanabad,” he said.

District administration deployed two teams of NDRF in Latur and Osmanabad on Tuesday night. An air force chopper too was brought in for the rescue operation. “Our focus was on the rescue operation in the flood affected districts. The rescue team was deployed well in time and it helped us rescue people. The rainfall has started subsiding in most parts of the state and there is no prediction of heavy rain tomorrow,” said an official from the disaster management cell of the state government.

Hundreds of people in the villages near the dams in Latur, Osmanabad have been shifted to the safer places after the water level started surging because of the discharge from the dams. According to the statement issued by the disaster management cell of the state government, 317 people were evacuated to safer places and eight districts were affected in the downpour in the past two days. “447 human lives have been lost since onset of monsoon on June 1 in the state. Ten people have gone missing, while 140 were injured in rain-related incidents,” the statement reads.

Dhananjay Munde, social justice minister and guardian minister of Beed, announced to compensate farmers indiscriminately for their losses of crops. Munde said that he has spoken to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar over it and farmers will be given relief package. “The discharge from the Manjara dam late last night led to the flooding in the villages in the area. Most of the 51 people stranded due to the flooding have been rescued. Quick response from the administration has helped in rescuing people in time,” he said.

The heavy rainfall in last two days has resulted significant rise in the water level in many dams even in the drought prone central Maharashtra. The water stock in 3,267 reservoirs across the state has reached 80.69% on Wednesday, though it was 83.95% last year till this day. Almost all the large dams which supply drinking water to respective areas are more than 90% full and many of them have already overflown.

Barring western and north Maharashtra, rest of the state has received its more than normal rainfall of the season between June and September. The state has reported 1,168.9 mm rainfall this season, against its normal average of 992.2mm. Drought-prone central Maharashtra has received 149% rainfall, while Vidarbha has reported 113% of its averge rainfall. Konkan has reported 122.5%, while western and north Maharashtra have received 89.8% and 91.3% rainfall of their seasonal average.

This has resulted in rise in the area under cultivation of agricultural crops. Against the average of 14.2 million hectares of the land used for the cultivation of various crops (excluding sugarcane), the sowing has been done on more than 14.30mn hectares this year. This is expected to help Maharashtra in taking record agricultural crops this kharip, according to the officials from the agriculture department.

Relief and rehabilitation minister Vijay Wadettiwar said that Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Yavatmal in Vidarbha, Nanded, Latur, Hingoli, Osmanabad in central Maharashtra have been badly hit due to the Gulab cyclone. “The standing crops have sustained tremendous damage in central Maharashtra and parts of Vidarbha. Crops on more than 2million hectares has damaged in central Maharashtra alone. Crops of Soyabean and Tur have been badly hit. We have asked district administrations to conduct spot assessment at the earliest so that the relief is offered immediately. We expect Centre to help us compensating the farmers,” he said.

The state cabinet discussed huge losses to the crops due to the incessant rainfall and have decided to begin the spot assessment immediately. A few ministers also demanded to announce the wet drought in affected districts so that farmers get more compensation. The decision over compensation to the affected people is expected to be taken in next cabinet.