Krishna, Panchganga below danger level; flood death toll at 51

The Krishna and Panchganga rivers, which breached their banks and wreaked havoc in Kolhapur and Sangli districts in western Maharashtra in the last two weeks, were flowing below danger mark on Thursday, an official said.

Pune divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar said the death toll had reached 51 in Pune region with the recovery of more bodies, and four persons were still missing.

The Pune region comprises districts of Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur and Kolhapur. The region saw torrential rains in the first week of August.

"Level of the Krishna river had already gone down below the danger mark at 45 feet at Irwin Bridge in Sangli city. The water level further dropped to 32.11 feet today noon," Mhaisekar said.

In Kolhapur, the Panchganga was flowing at 38.01 feet at Rajaram Weir, below the danger level of 43 feet.

In Sangli district, 226 out of 329 ATMs have been repaired and made operational. In Kolhapur, 320 out of 647 ATMs are operational, he said.

The floods damaged ATMs, transformers, toppled or bent electricity poles besides laying waste to crops and thousands of houses in the two districts.