This story is from August 7, 2019

Maharashtra: Rescue ops continue on a war footing in Kolhapur, Sangli

Maharashtra: Rescue ops continue on a war footing in Kolhapur, Sangli
A massive relief and rescue operation continued on Wednesday in the flood-hit districts of Kolhapur and Sangli in Western Maharashtra.
KOLHAPUR: A massive relief and rescue operation continued on Wednesday in the flood-hit districts of Kolhapur and Sangli in Western Maharashtra with the government deploying teams of Army, Navy, Coast Guards and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) for rescuing thousands of people stranded in marooned areas.
Two helicopters of the Navy and a Coast Guard chopper from Goa landed at Kolhapur airport on Wednesday morning with life saving boats and other paraphernalia to facilitate rescue work.

Kolhapur district collector Daulat Desai said, “A team of 22 Navy personnel has started operations by reaching Prayag Chikhali, about 5km from here where rivers Kumbhi, Kasari, Bhogawati and Tulshi merge. Hundreds of people are waiting at Prayag Chikhali for help.”
Rescue team of Army and NDRF managed to reach Kolhapur despite problems posed by a submerged Panchanganga bridge on the National Highway (NH)-4 which connects Mumbai and Bengaluru via Pune and Kolhapur.
The NDRF team proceeded to Prayag Chikhali with two boats and another two boats will undertake rescue operations in Kolhapur city. The Navy is deploying 14 more boats for rescue operation.
District guardian minister Chandrakant Patil, who discussed the situation with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, said the latter has promised all help for rescue operation, which includes deployment of all-weather condition helicopters. Maharashtra cabinet will have special meeting during the day to discuss the flood situation.

The Kolhapur district administration has shifted around 11,000 families (51,785 people) to safer place and are arranging for food and relief.
In Sangli, which is 60km from Kolhapur off the NH-4, the situation remained critical as NDRF and Army teams have reached there. The Krishna river was flowing above the danger mark of 45ft at Irwin bridge in the heart of Sangli city. Flood waters have entered in several low lying areas of the city as well as Karad in neibhouring Satara district. Krishna and Koyna are two major rivers that meet at Karad.
The situation in Kolhapur and Sangli districts is grimmer than the floods witnessed in 2005, prompting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to call his Karnataka counterpart B S Yediyurappa for stepping up the release of water from Almatti dam, located 200km from Kolhapur.
Water discharged from various dams across Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur districts, flows through Koyna, Krishna, Panchaganga and their tributaries and form the backwaters of Almatti dam in Karnataka. A lesser discharge from Almatti leads to flooding of areas in Sangli and Kolhapur.
The situation has, meanwhile, badly affected the supply of essential commodities like milk, vegetables and fuel, besides, hitting services like hospitals.
With highways and roads remaining out of the bounds, major oil companies, which have their depots in Sangli district, could not transport fuel to Kolhapur. Huge queues of vehicles were witnessed at petrol pumps in Kolhapur city, but the available stocks were going down rapidly.
Similarly, the Gokul milk cooperative, which is a major supplier of milk not only to Kolhapur and Sangli but also Mumbai, could not transport milk on Wednesday. The situation has sent vegetable prices soaring.
In Kolhapur city, water gushed into the basement of a hospital, leaving several patients and their relatives waiting for help to evacuate them from the affected premises. Accessing heavily water-logged areas was a problem not only in the cities but also the rural parts of the two districts.
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