Pune: At least 19 persons have been killed and 11 gone missing in various rain-related incidents in the districts of Pune, Jalgaon and Nashik since late Wednesday, officials said here Thursday.
According to the state and district disaster management authorities, at least five persons were washed away in flood waters in the Khed-Shivapur area on Pune-Bangalore highway. Three bodies were recovered from a well in the downstream region early Thursday and a hunt is on for the others.
A building compound wall crashed in Arnyshwar Complex killing six more, while some others were feared trapped under the debris. While two bodies have been recovered, search is on for the remaining persons. The toll may rise once the debris are removed.
Caught in a thunderstorm, six people were killed as they took refuge under a tree in Jalgaon, a Maharashtra Disaster Control Authority official told this agency.
Two persons were found dead in cars that were washed away in the flood waters in Kondwa and Saswad areas while an autorickshaw driver was killed due to electrocution in a flooded area of a village on the outskirts of Nashik, police said.
As flood waters rose, more than 15,000 people were evacuated from Baramati tehsil, and others from different areas like Sinhgad, Dhanakwadi, Balajinagar, Ambegaon, Sahakar Nagar, Parvati Nagar, Kolhewadi and Kirkatwadi.
In many areas, panicked residents took refuge on upper floors or terrace as flood waters gushed into ground floor residences.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that two National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams are deployed each in Baramati and Pune, while a fifth team was on its way to Baramati and that the flood situation is being closely monitored. Devendra Fadnavis also spoke with Baramati legislator and former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and promised full help to the flood-affected.
Since Wednesday night, Pune City and district has been lashed by more than 16cm of torrential downpour, with forecast of more rain in the next 24 hours. Met department officials said this is a record rainfall in the past 10 years.
Normal life has been crippled in Maharashtra’s cultural, academic and IT capital since Wednesday as most people preferred to remain indoors under heavily overcast skies and non-stop rain.
Two hundred-plus big and small vehicles have been washed away in the floods in the city and outskirts, besides tonnes of rubbish piling up in different areas. Local officials said around 150 homes have been damaged, rendering hundreds of families homeless.
IANS