Sangli, Kolhapur breathe a little as floodwaters recede; 46 villages still marooned
As of Friday, the district administration has evacuated 2.85 lakh people from Western Maharashtra as a whole
With rainfall easing in catchment areas of Western Maharashtra’s dams and water released from Karnataka’s Almatti dam increasing today, the flood situation in Kolhapur and Sangli improved, only slightly.
Water level in Sangli dropped by three inches on Friday, as per information released by the district administration.
As of Friday, the district administration has evacuated 2.85 lakh people from Western Maharashtra as a whole.
A rotal of 46 villages in Kolhapur and Sangli district are still marooned with no road connectivity.
Divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar, speaking in Pune, said, “The administration is trying to keep in contact with these villages either by boats or by mobile phone. It is not possible to evacuate all these people, but administration is providing essential food and water by boats.”
Air lifting residents could not take place today due to to bad weather, but helicopters are on standby for frequent take-offs.
Mhaisekar said the administration evacuated 8,923 people on Friday and that nine persons are still missing in Sangli.
Reacting to criticisms that the administration is not being proactive and only reacting after a village floods, Mhaisekar said, “The number of people and villages which are surrounded by water is high. It is not possible to shift all the people. We appeal to people to move to higher ground and we will supply them with essential food.”
15,000 trucks standing by for green light
As the Pune-Bengaluru highway is not operational, 15,000 trucks are stranded on the highway. Administration has instructed the police not to allow these trucks to move till the water recedes from all bridges. Even then, police will only allow trucks with essential supplies from Pune to reach Kolhapur and Sangli.
First priority is for petrol, water and food items, Mhaisekar said.
Donations welcome, but only what’s on the list please
Divisional Commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar has appealed to citizens to help the flood affected people, but only with items needed for people in Sangli and Kolhapur.
Mhaisekar said, “ As many people are coming forward, a separate cell has been established at council hall in the divisional commissioner’s office. Items listed will be accepted and supplied by administration to flood affected areas.”
Mhaisekar said, “ We need drinking water bottles and mainly big cans, dry snacks like biscuits and ready to eat food like maggi, blankets, basic medicines, candles, match boxes and new clothes.”
Mhaisekar said that the administration will not accept old clothes.
People who want to give cash help can directly give it to Chief Minister’s relief fund, but it would be better to give information on the donation to the divisional commissioner’s office for receipts for tax benefit.
The state government had handed over Rs 76 crore for western Maharashtra and Rs 15,000 per family in urban areas; and Rs 10,000 per family in rural areas, where homes have been damaged.
Senior citizens worst hit as logistical limitations maroon Sangalwadi for four days
The senior citizens of Sangalwadi village in Sangli, which has been submerged in flood water since Tuesday, were among the worst affected by the flood.
Parvatishankar Mhalkar,75, was carried back to her house as she and her family became a part of the crowd which could not reach the Navy boats. “I have never seen a flood in my life. I had come here five months ago to attend my grandson’s wedding. We have no electricity, no water and I cannot walk for a long distance,” said Mhalkar as she sat down, panting, in the middle of a flooded road as she could not walk any further. Two people then had to pick her up and carried her on foot to the Navy boats around 3pm on Friday. However, by 5:30pm, she and her family had turned around and were headed back home.
“There are too many people. We will never get through. She is too old. We will be in a better position if we go back home,” said Pradeep Mhalkar, 26, her grandson.
Besides Mhalkar, multiple septuagenarians and octogenarians were being carried through make-shift boats, boats, tempos, and kayaks. Eighty-six-year-old Siddhavananda Koli was one among them. Koli was being carried by her son as her daughter-in-law, Yellava Lakappa Koli, 55, hailed whatever luggage she could.
“We live in the slums here. Our house is completely gone. We just want to get her and ourselves out of here and go to some other village,” said Yellava Koli .
The people whose houses were completely submerged had moved into nearby schools and college premises. The locks on the gate of Bharti Vidyapeeth college were broken by the people who were living there without food, electricity or water since Tuesday.
On Friday, as food packets were provided through helicopters, the packets were all but destroyed as the landed on the concrete roof of the college building.
With no mode of sanitation, the daily human waste was accumulated in corners of the college building. The premises which was littered by waste like rice, cooked vegetables, milk-powder, and biscuits mixed with flood water. The water bottles which were air-dropped had broken and leaked into the food that they were packed with.
“Of 10, we probably got 2-3 good bottles of water,” said one of the many people who were waiting on the roof of the building. However, the people scrambled for the food packets but they were damaged.
The Indian Army officials said that they will take at least 72-hours to conclude rescue operations throughout the district.
Life without power, water or essentials...
Road connectivity, power supply, landline phones and supply of drinking water, fuel and food items continued to be disrupted on the fourth day on Friday following heavy rains and floods in Kolhapur district.
The supply of food grains, vegetables, milk and medicines was hit in the city.
Adding to the misery of the people, the situation is likely to continue for some more days. According to disaster management cell officials, a large part of the city was submerged or affected by the floods and included areas like the District collectorate, Mahavir Garden, Mahavir College, New Palace, Ramanmala and Bapat camp.
Lack of power supply to large parts of Kolhapur had made life miserable with all routine activities having come to a standstill.
In a statement, Vikas Puri, spokesperson of Kolhapur circle of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Corporation Ltd (MSEDCL) said as many as 3,333 transformers across the district had been shut down affecting 1.59 lakh electricity connections.
As many as 14 substations across the city and district also stood affected. Sub-stations from Dudhali, Gandhinagar, Nagala Park, Radhanagari, were among those which were kept shut as a precautionary measure.
Several parts of Kolhapur and Sangli district faced power outages due to continuous rainfall.
About 1.59 lakh consumers in Kolhapur and 1.24 lakh in Sangli have been badly hit due to the power cuts amid heavy rains in the past four days.
The floods have damaged 29 power sub-stations and 5,582 transformers in both the districts.
MSEDCL officials said that there has been large-scale damage, with floodwater damaging electricity supply equipment. “It will be a mammoth task to repair and rebuild the equipment and transformers damaged due to the floods,” an official said.
For the fourth day the BSNL landlines are not working across the city.
Most ATMs (automated teller machines) remained closed because of lack of power supply. Many citizens were seen going from one ATM to another in desperation to withdraw money. Some ATMs with power supply had been deliberately shut because of security reasons.
As a result of the acute water shortage and breakdown in supply four days ago, residents have taken to collecting rainwater for drinking purposes. People were seen roaming the streets with empty cans and trying to collect rainwater.