Flooding hits Maharashtra's Nanded, parts of Marathwada

AURANGABAD: A total of 50 more revenue circles in Marathwada reported heavy showers during the 24 hours ending Tuesday morning, causing flooding in parts of the region including the badly-affected areas of Nanded district. After receiving drizzles through the day, many parts of Aurangabad reported heavy rain late on Tuesday evening, which resulted in waterlogging and power outage in some areas.
Incessant showers led to the inundation of many localities in Mukhed, Loha and Kandhar talukas in Nanded district.Farms were left flooded and road connectivity was snapped in some places.
The Godavari river that passes through Nanded and other areas was flowing at the level of 350 metres within the municipal limits of Nanded-Waghala by Tuesday evening, just one-metre short of the alert mark. The danger level is 354 metres.
Earlier, a car carrying three people, including two close relatives of Mukhed MLA Tushar Rathod, was swept away in an overflowing nullah near Mukhed on Tuesday afternoon. While the driver exited the vehicle and climbed up a tree, Rathod’s cousin Bhagwan (65) and his son Sandeep (38) were feared drowned. Mukhed tehsildar Kashinath Patil said the search operation for both men was on till evening.
Nanded collector Vipin Itankar said people living on the banks of the Godavari and its tributaries and nullahs have been asked to remain on alert. “The entire government machinery has been deployed in Mukhed, Loha and Kandhar as well as the Nanded municipal limits. People stranded due to the flood waters were rescued in separate operations,” he said. Road traffic on the Narsi-Degloor and Narsi-Biloli routes were disrupted due to submerging of bridges, causing heavy traffic jams.
In Beed district, parts of Kaij and Georai taluka witnessed floods in a few areas as the tributaries of the Godavari started overflowing due to heavy rains. Bindusara dam situated near Beed was overflowing by Tuesday morning, causing some old bridges in the city to go under water.
While spells of light to medium showers with occasional heavy showers were reported in many parts of the region till Tuesday evening, the possibility of more showers has prompted the district administration to sound an alert. Earlier, 28 revenue circles from Nanded district, 20 from Hingoli district and two from Parbhani district reported heavy showers of more than 65mm, official data shows.
As per the data, Marathwada has reported a total of 12 rain-related deaths since the start of the current month, besides 664 cattle being killed in different parts of the region. Before these showers, 41 houses have been damaged in different parts of Marathwada.