Maha floods: Over 4 lakh moved to safety

Pune/ Mumbai : Over four lakh people have been moved to safety from the flood-hit parts of Maharashtra in the last five days, including 3.78 lakh from the worst-hit Kolhapur and Sangli districts where the situation showed signs of improvement on Saturday as the water levels started receding slowly, but are still above the danger marks.

Officials are now hoping that it doesn't rain heavily in the next 72 hours in Kolhapur and Sangli districts to allow water levels to recede completely. The situation is likely to improve further as five lakh cusec of water was being discharged from the Almatti dam in neighbouring Karnataka.

The backwaters of Almatti dam on the Krishna river fall in Maharashtra. In view of the flood water levels not falling, Fadnavis had asked his Karnataka counterpart BS Yediyurappa to increase the water discharge to 500,000 cusec.

The discharge from Koyna (Satara) and Radhanagari (Kolhapur) dams stood at 77,987 cusec and 7,112 cusec, respectively, a state government statement said. According to the statement, 4,24,333 people have been evacuated and shifted to safer places across the state.

A total of 761 villages in 69 'talukas' in the state were affected by flood. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis reviewed the rescue and relief operations in Sangli on Saturday and interacted with the people. He assured all assistance to them.

Addressing a press conference there later, Fadnavis attributed the flooding to "unprecedented" rainfall during this monsoon, which he said was "more than double" of what was witnessed in 2005, when many parts of the state, including large areas of Mumbai, were submerged.

"During the 2005 floods, Sangli had received 217 per cent rainfall in a month's time, while this there was 758 per cent rainfall in just nine days.

In Kolhapur, there was 159 per cent rainfall in 2005, while it was 480 per cent in nine days this time," he said. According to the chief minister, a total of 3,78,000 people were evacuated in Kolhapur and Sangli districts.

"As per the preliminary information, crops on 27,468 hectares of area and 484 km of roads have been affected due to floods," Fadnavis said, adding that once the water level reduces, priority would be given to restoring and repairing water supply and electricity connections.

While the overall situation, especially in Kolhapur and Sangli, improved slightly on Saturday, the operation to evacuate people from flooded areas and providing relief to them continued.

"There is an improvement in the overall situation. Water is receding, albeit slowly," Abhinav Deshmukh, Kolhapur superintendent of police, told PTI.

Pune Divisional Commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar said the water level in Kolhapur is reduced by three inches since morning.