Heavy rains in Maha; 50,000 evacuated from Kolhapur, Sangli

With the incessant rains causing floods in Sangli and Kolhapur in western Maharashtra, the Navy and Air Force were on Tuesday called in to help in the relief and rescue operations even as 50,000 people were evacuated in the two districts, officials said.

The national highway between Kolhapur and Belgaum in Karnataka was shut for vehicular traffic due to water-logging, Kolhapur Superintendent of Police Abhinav Deshmukh told PTI.

Power supply to over 85,000 consumers in Kolhapur was suspended as a precautionary measure, an official from the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company said.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he has written to his Karnataka counterpart B S Yediyurappa, requesting him to increase the discharge of water from Almatti dam on Krishna river in the southern state so as to ease the flood situation in Sangli.

Fadnavis said he would hold a review meeting on Wednesday to work out long-term measures to combat the flood situation.

"A total of 11,165 families, comprising nearly 50,000 individuals, have been evacuated from the low-lying areas of Sangli and Kolhapur and shifted to safer places," Pune divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar said.

A team of the NDRF informed that they rescued two pregnant women in Sangli and one in Kolhapur.

"Apart from additional teams of the NDRF, two choppers have been deployed for Kolhapur and if necessary, they will conduct sorties over Sangli," he said.

The Navy will also deploy its choppers for the rescue operations for Sangli and Kolhapur, he said.

Mhaisekar said after the Maharashtra government request to Karnataka, the latter has increased the water discharge from Almatti dam to ease the flooding in Sangli.

"They were releasing water from the dam at 3.21 lakh cusecs, and now discharge has been increased by 20,000. A request has been made to further increase the discharge to five lakh cusecs," he said.

The discharge of water from the dam is expected to improve the situation in Sangli, he said.

The official further said that Ujani dam in Solapur was filled up to 90 per cent of its total storage capacity and water was being discharged from it.

"Due to the discharge, the temple town of Pandharpur might face problems and an advisory has been issued to take precautions," Mhaisekar said.

Kolhapur has been witnessing "unprecedented" rains, Deshmukh said, adding that some rivers in the district were flowing above the danger mark.

Flood waters entered many areas of Kolhapur city, including the collector's office, another official said.

The water level of the Panchganga river in Kolhapur crossed the danger mark of 49 feet. "It was flowing at 52 feet level on Tuesday," he said.

The administrations in Pune, Satara, Kolhapur and Sangli declared a holiday for schools and colleges on Tuesday.