M A I N   N E W S

Rain wreaks havoc in Maharashtra, Gujarat

Mumbai, July 30
Over 70,000 persons were evacuated by the Army from Sangli, Satara and Solapur districts in Western Maharashtra with the Krishna River flowing above the danger level and heavy rains lashing the region since the last few days.

Official sources here said 64,831 persons from 53 villages in Sangli were shifted to safer places. Likewise, 4,675 persons from 50 villages in Satara and 500 persons from Pandharpur in Solapur district were moved to higher reaches. In Kolhapur, 176 families from 22 villages were shifted.

Six persons, including three women and two children, lost their lives in rain-related incidents in Sangli and Satara districts, the sources said.

In Nashik and Konkan regions, heavy rains caused water-logging, but the situation is reported to be under control and no untoward incidents were reported. The Godavari River was flowing below the danger mark in Nashik, officials said.

However, the rains had now subsided and a semblance of normalcy was returning, the sources added.

The incessant rains have forced the authorities to release water from various dams. About 1.10 lakh cusecs water was discharged from the Ujni Dam.

From the Koyna Dam, 88,000 cusecs water was released while the discharge from other dams was as follows: Dhom (6,000 cusecs), Kanher (9,000 cusecs), Varna (22,000 cusecs), Radhanagari (9,000 cusecs), Dudhganga (1,200 cusecs), Khadakvasla (46,000 cusecs), Pavna (8,700 cusecs), Chasakaman (2,000 cusecs), Vir (56,000 cusecs), Mulshi (12,700 cusecs), Ghod (42,200 cusecs), Bhatghar (22,700 cusecs), and Varasgaon (12,000 cusecs).

In Nashik district too, water was discharged from various dams: Gangapur (13,700 cusecs), Darna (17,000 cusecs), Palkhed (1,700 cusecs), Kadva (1,372 cusecs), and Nandur Madhmeshwar (79,300 cusecs).

Ahmedabad: More than 25,000 persons have been evacuated from low-lying areas in five districts of Gujarat as heavy rains continued to lash the state for the third consecutive day today, officials said.

The administration was put on alert in Anand, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat and Navsari districts in the central and south Gujarat regions as water levels were rising in many rivers.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi has instructed the disaster management wing to assess the situation, even as the weather office forecast heavy rain in the next 48 hours.

An alert has been sounded on the banks of the Narmada river as the Sardar Sarovar dam was expected to overflow, according to a senior Narmada district official.

Meanwhile, 7,192 persons from 17 villages in Bharuch district, 7,400 from the low-lying areas on the banks of the Ambika and Purna rivers in Navsari district, 1,406 from 13 villages of Anand district, 1,155 from seven villages of Kheda district and about 6,650 from Vadodara district have been shifted to safer places, said flood control officials.

With the three-day incessant rains, the toll of rain-related deaths across the state in July has reached 44.

Traffic on the National Highway No 8, linking Ahmedabad with Mumbai, has been disrupted as the stretch of the road between Kim and Koshamba in Surat district has been submerged under water.

The continuous rains have resulted in water-logging in Ahmedabad too.

Rail traffic between Ahmedabad and Mumbai has been affected. All trains between the two cities were stopped late Saturday night following the overflowing of a river near Surat. It was partially resumed today after the rail authorities tested the tracks and allowed two goods train and a passenger train to cross the bridge. — UNI, IANS