Monsoon wrecks havoc across the country

20,000 have been evacuated in Maharashtra, death toll has crossed 75 in Andhra Pradesh, Amarnath yatra has been suspended in Jammu & Kashmir.

MAHARASHTRA: More than 20,000 people have been evacuated in Maharashtra, 13,000 from the marooned villages of Marathwada’s Nanded district alone, where 25 villages were reportedly cut off completely by floods.

The situation was similar in Gadchiroli district in the Vidarbha region. The army, navy and air force were helping with rescue operations in the flood-affected places. Unconfirmed reports say over 20 persons have died in various parts of Vidarbha since Saturday and close to 3000 families have been rendered homeless. Hundreds of families are being shifted to safer places. The downpour has devastated standing crops on thousands of hectares of land.

In Mehkar, Buldana, a state regional transport corporation bus carrying 25 passengers is trapped in the floodwater for several hours. Two boats have been pressed into action for the rescue, relief authorities said.

All the dams in the region are overflowing, irrigation officials told DNA. The rivers are flowing well above the danger level. The Irai river in Chandrapur is flowing dangerously, inundating about 30 villages and rendering over 1500 families homeless. Seven rivers in Yavatmal district, mostly in the southern blocks, are overflowing and close to 1,200 families are homeless.

In Nashik, heavy showers lashed the city since Saturday night. The region recorded more than 200mm of rain causing flooding in Godavari river. The over-flowing river entered the city lanes on Sunday afternoon. Pune was also hit by heavy showers with its main rivers Mula and Muthha flowing above the danger mark. 

Gujarat: Heavy rains lashed several parts of the Vadodara district, especially the talukas falling under the tribal belt. District authorities have sent assistance to these villages and with rising water level in local reservoirs, a high alert is being maintained in the low-lying areas. However, no human loss has been reported from any of these areas. In the wake of the increasing water level of Sardar Sarovar Narmada Dam at Kevadiya Colony, a high alert was sounded across the low-lying villages of the region on Sunday.

Andhra Pradesh: The flood situation in Andhra Pradesh remained grim on Sunday, as the death toll in coastal and Telengana region rose to over 75. Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy undertook an aerial survey of the affected districts and state machinery has taken up relief and rehabilitation measures on a war footing, revenue officials said. The Godavari river in Bhadrachalam had risen to 63.3 feet (10 feet above the danger mark) prompting the authorities to shift about 14,000 families to 113 relief camps set up near the temple town. Officials said the water level was predicted to rise further. Visakhapatnam accounted for the maximum number of fourteen deaths, followed by Vizianagaram (11), Khammam (8) and East Godavari (6). There were four deaths each in Nizamabad and Warangal. Few casualties were also reported in West Godavari, Adilabad, Karimnagar, Guntur, Nalgonda, Krishna and Medak districts, sources said.

Jammu and Kashmir:  Intermittent rainfall has wreaked havoc in the state. Two children were killed when their house caved in due to heavy rainfall in Zanaskar area of Kargil district. Five people including three army men are feared dead after they went missing when cloudburst hit Batalik area in Kargil division. Flood threat is also looming large, as water level in major rivers has risen sharply for the last three days in the state. Though the water level has not crossed the danger mark, the state administration has been put on alert to deal with any emergency situation. The Amarnath yatra has also been suspended following heavy rainfall en route to the holy cave. Nearly 800 pilgrims are stranded in Pahalgam base camp, as the authorities have not allowed them to march towards the cave shrine.

Haryana: At least seven people were drowned on Sunday when a boat they were traveling in capsised in the swollen Yamuna river at Ballabhgarh sub-division in Haryana. Angry at the tardy relief measures by the local authorities, irate villagers damaged several government vehicles, including three fire tenders. Seven bodies have been recovered so far from the river, which is in spate. Locals said that the death toll could go up further.

The rains also hit life in Chhattisgarh, where five persons were feared dead after being washed away by floods, and Orissa, where a fresh wave of floods claimed eight lives.

(With inputs from Jaideep Hardikar, Vaishali Balajiwale, Jumana Shah and Ishfaq-ul-Hassan)