Hope fades for over 60 missing in floods

Major state and national highways, including the Mumbai-Goa highway, continued to be shut on Sunday due to severe water-logging and after portions of the roads were washed away in some areas.

The number of deaths due to flooding and landslides after days of heavy rainfall in Maharashtra rose to 153 on Sunday, the state government said, even as a frantic search continued for at least 64 people missing in the worst-hit Konkan and western districts.

India's National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), shows NDRF personnel rescuing stranded villagers from flooded areas following heavy monsoon rains in Balinge village of Kolhapur district of Maharashtra. (AFP)

The country’s western coast has been hit by heavy rainfall since Thursday, with the India Meteorological Department warning of more rain over the next few days. Major state and national highways, including the Mumbai-Goa highway, continued to be shut on Sunday due to severe water-logging and after portions of the roads were washed away in some areas.

“The rescue operations at most of the landslide sites are expected to be called off by Monday as the chances of the recovery of missing people from the sites are very less. The bodies are likely to have been washed away with the current of the water and may have travelled far off,” a district official in Raigad said.

Raigad district, where a portion of a hillock flattened most of the Taliye village, burying 32 houses, has reported the maximum fatalities with 64 deaths so far, followed by 21 in Ratnagiri, 41 in Satara, 12 in Thane, seven in Kolhapur, four in suburban Mumbai, and two each in Sindhudurg and Pune, according to an official statement.

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray visited Chiplun in Ratnagiri district, where a bridge on the Vashisthi river was damaged after heavy rain, and spoke to the residents, promising them assistance. “We will require central assistance for long-term mitigation measures. The central government has provided assistance by deploying rescue teams from defence forces,” he later said. Thackeray said that the state’s economy was already “sluggish” because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The government is assessing the extent of the damage in the flood-affected areas and a comprehensive report will soon be prepared, the CM said.

“But before that, all the basic facilities will be extended to the affected people. The flooding in Chiplun and Raigad has been unprecedented and people did not get a chance to save their belongings because it happened all of a sudden,” the chief minister said.

In the last 24 hours, one death was reported from Pune and one person was reported missing from Thane district, the government said in its statement.

Around 2,000 people were lodged at six relief camps in Ratnagiri, it said. According to official data, 229,084 people have been evacuated from vulnerable areas in nine districts since Thursday.

The death toll, however, is likely to increase, with heavy rainfall and tricky terrain in some areas stalling rescue operations.

Till Sunday, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), which is conducting rescue operations in Taliye in Raigad, Porase and Pedhe in Ratnagiri, and Mirgaon, Ambeghar and Dhokawale in Satara district, has retrieved 90 bodies. NDRF director general SN Pradhan tweeted the latest information of the force’s operations.

Thirty-three people have been reported missing in these three districts, the NDRF data updated till 6.30pm showed.

Teams of the local administrations and the State Disaster Relief Force, Coast Guard, Indian Navy and Indian Army are also undertaking rescue operations in the affected areas.

To assist in the flood relief, the army has also set up a central war room at the department of military affairs.

“A central war room has been established at the Department of Military Affairs for close coordination between the three Services for ongoing flood relief operations in Maharashtra,” the army said on Twitter.

On Sunday, the chief minister said that a force similar to NDRF will be set up in the state and SDRF will be further strengthened.

“Considering the frequent natural calamities, a separate force on the lines of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) will be set up in all districts of the state. Similarly, a flood management machinery will also be set up,” Thackeray said, directing the local administration to provide food, water and medicines to the people who have been displaced in the last few days.

The chief minister said he will tour western Maharashtra on Monday.

Union minister Narayan Rane and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis visited Taliye on Sunday.

“I have spoken to prime minister Narendra Modi before coming here. He has assured me all help from the central government. I will submit a report to the PM after the visit. The rehabilitation of the people affected in the landslide will be done at the site they want. Rescue teams of NDRF and armed forces have been deployed in affected district, we will try to keep a few teams stationed in Raigad or Ratnagiri keeping the constant risk of downpour every monsoon in mind,” Rane said. The damaged houses will be rebuilt under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, he added.

The water level in Krishna, Panchganga and Warana rivers in Kolhapur, and Krishna river in Sangli started receding on Sunday.

Minister of state for home and Kolhapur guardian minister Satej Patil said: “The water level in major rivers has stabilised and the water on roads has started receding. However, the water level is still above the warning level and the situation will take a few days to normalise.”

(With agency inputs)