Floods claim 20 in state, 20,000 are evacuated

Armed forces roped in for rescue operations, CM warns against swelling Godavari.

Floods in many parts of Maharashtra over the past three days have killed over 20 people.

According to unconfirmed reports, 10 people were swept away in the floods on Sunday evening alone. The state administration has evacuated over 20,000 people and roped in the armed forces for rescue operations.

Nanded, Hingoli and Buldhana districts are the worst affected. The loss to property has not been ascertained as water is yet to recede in many parts in the state.

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh sounded a warning in view of the swelling Godavari. “The river has crossed the danger level and is flowing at 357 metres. If meteorological forecast of heavy to very heavy rains in the next 24 hours comes true, then the river might swell beyond the 358-metre mark,” he said in Mumbai on Sunday.

Deshmukh said normal life was  paralysed across the state as road traffic was hit in several districts, sometimes severely.He said Nanded is cut off from the rest of the state since Saturday. “At least 20,000 people will have to be evacuated from Nanded alone,” he said.

He said he has requested Andhra Pradesh to release at least eight lakh cusecs of water from the Pochampada dam to ease the situation in Nanded and Hingoli.

Last week, hundreds of villages in Satara, Sangli, Kolapur, Solapur and Pune were under water and the administration had to evacuate over one lakh people.

Meanwhile, the meteorological department has predicted heavy to very heavy rains in the next 24 hours in Vidarbha, Marathwada, the Konkan, and Mumbai.