With the intensity of the rains decreasing and floodwaters marginally receding on Friday, rescue operations proceeded at full throttle in flood-ravaged Sangli and Kolhapur on Friday. Local rescue teams, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Army jawans pulled out stranded persons in backwater villages in the two districts.
Thus far, 2.85 lakh persons across the five flood-hit districts of Sangli, Kolhapur, Satara, Pune and Solapur in western Maharashtra have been moved to shelters in safer zones, said Pune Divisional Commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar. Of these, 2.35 lakh persons have been evacuated from around 450 villages in Sangli (1.34 lakh) and Kolhapur (1.11 lakh) alone.
Dr. Mhaisekar said there had been 29 flood-related or rain-related deaths so far in the five districts, including the nine casualties in Sangli boat accident of Thursday. Eleven people were still missing. “We have been able to recover only nine bodies in that accident so far,” he said.
“In order to compensate people for their possessions lost in the floods, ₹15,000 would be given to each family in the urban areas and ₹10,000 to each family in the rural areas. The State government has entrusted us with an ad hoc fund of ₹76 crore and we have already begun distributing this amount at the district level,” said Dr. Mhaisekar.
480 relief centres were presently operational in the five flood-hit districts in western Maharashtra. The Divisional Commissioner said Air Force and Navy helicopters were being deployed from Friday to drop supplies in flood-afflicted zones.
