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At least 83 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were deployed in the four flood-hit states of Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat Friday as incessant rains continue to throw life out of gear in isolated areas across the country.
Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai conducted a high-level meeting Friday to assess the flood situation in different parts of the country and check the preparedness of central ministries and agencies to face the challenges posed by the disastrous conditions.
Torrential rains continued to batter various parts of Kerala Friday as the death toll in monsoon related incidents, including landslides, in the last three days soared to 28 with more than 43,000 people taking shelter in rehabilitated centers, officials told PTI. The worsening situation has prompted Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan-led state government to seek assistance from the Indian Army and the Air Force.
Train services were also thrown out of gear in isolated areas across the state as heavy rains caused landslides while overflowing rivers resulted in flooding in several parts with Wayanad, Malappuram, Kannur and Idukki in north and central Kerala being the worst-affected areas.
A red alert for rainfall has been issued in nine of the 14 districts in the southern state and all educational institutions, including colleges, will remain shut till Saturday.
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Thousands of people have been marooned and lakhs of acres of land have submerged with Belagavi district, being the worst affected by floods in Karnataka.
Almost all the major rivers in Karnataka including Krishna, Cauvery, Kaali, Varahi, Markandeya, Bheema, Malaprabha, Ghataprabha, Tunga, Bhadrawati, Hemavati, Sharavati, Netravati, Tungabhadra, Kumaradhara, Varada, Kabini and their tributaries are overflowing leaving thousands of people stranded.
Apart from Belagavi, the districts affected include Bagalakote, Vijayapura, Raichur, Yadgir, Gadag, Uttara Kannada, Haveri, Hubballi-Dharwad, Ballari, Dakshina Kannada, Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu.
In Kodagu district, at the catchment area of River Cauvery, four bodies were extracted from under a house — on a foothill — which collapsed due to a landslide.
PTI reported that the National Highway 75 was cut off at Sakaleshpura in Hassan district due to landslide at Yattinahalli.
Around nine million people are reported to be affected by floods in Bihar till Thursday with at least 130 deaths, according to the state disaster management department. PTI reported that the number of people affected by floods, according to the department, has reached 88.46 lakh and they are spread across 1269 Panchayats falling under 111 blocks of 13 districts.
The state has been battling the flood situation since July 13, when the five districts in northern Bihar were struck by flash floods. The preparedness for the flood situation wasn’t formidable because the sudden rains were unexpected in a state that was facing a weak monsoon.
PTI reported that around 1,000 people have been evacuated from catchment areas of Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) in Madhya Pradesh’s Barwani and Dhar districts as the Narmada river is flowing above the danger mark in the aftermath of heavy rains. Also, around 700 persons were evacuated in Dhar district.
Officials of the Narmada Valley Development Authority of Madhya Pradesh informed PTI that at 2 pm on Friday, the river was flowing 7 meters above its danger mark of 123.28 meters at Rajghat village.
Meanwhile, Medha Patkar-led Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) on Friday called off its satyagraha (protest) at Rajghat.
The protest was aimed to mount pressure on the Gujarat government to open Sardar Sarovar Dam’s gates in order to make sure that people living in submergence areas in Madhya Pradesh were not affected by floods, the NBA told PTI.
“We have won as the Gujarat government has opened the gates,” it said.
In Maharashtra, more than two lakh people have been evacuated to safer areas ad floods have wreaked havoc in five districts of western Maharashtra, namely Sangli, Pune, Kolhapur, Solapur and Satara, officials informed PTI. Sangli and Kolhapur continue to be the worst-hit.
PTI reported that as many as 97,102 people have been rehabilitated to safer places in Kolhapur followed by 80,319 in Sangli.
At least nine people drowned and four went missing after a boat engaged in rescue work toppled near Brahmanal village in Palus tehsil of Sangli on Thursday, PTI reported.
At least 12 rescue teams of the Indian Navy are being deployed in Sangli district, an official told PTI.
“These 12 Navy teams will be deployed today (Friday) in Sangli in addition to the teams already present in Kolhapur,” a state government spokesperson was quoted as saying.
Heavy rains continued to lash districts of Central Gujarat since Thursday night. After incessant rains in Vadodara, level of the Ajwa Dam continued to be at 211 feet while the Vishwamitri was flowing at 22 feet, 4 feet below its danger mark. Meanwhile, Chhota Udepur recorded the highest rainfall in a day for the district so far, with 1166 mm rainfall in a single day. The district has received 368 mm rainfall since 6 am in the morning. Sukhi dam in the district is at 146.71 feet just one foot below its danger level of 147.82 feet.
Also, the Riverbed Powerhouse (RBPH) at the Sardar Sarovar dam on Narmada river, came to life after two years on Friday as the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam authorities opened the 22 gates of the dam first time after its installation in 2017, to maintain the water level in the dam at 131.18 metres.
Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have been arguing over the shutting down of power production from the RBPH after the political regime changed in the neighbouring state. Low lying villages in Narmada and villages in Bharuch and Vadodara on the banks of the river have been put on alert.