PUNE: At least 18 people were reported dead and four persons were missing in Pune city and district, following the flash floods reported in different parts of Pune on Wednesday-Thursday night. About 832 animals including 44 cattle were killed in the floods and 14 were reported missing, while thousands of vehicles have been damaged and many washed away.
As people were leaving work places and heading to homes at around 9 pm on Wednesday, the rains began lashing. In the absence of any prompt action by the administration, people had to spend hours on the roads especially Satara Road, Karve Road and Law College Road.
Soon, residential areas in Wanawadi, Kondhwa, Sahakar Nagar, Bibvewadi, Katraj, Sinhgad Road and surrounding areas were flooded. The roads had turned into nalas. To save their lives, people started moving on upper floors of their buildings. Though people were making desperate calls to administration for help, they were left to fend for themselves.
Soon, there was power outage and people found it difficult to communicate after mobile phones were discharged. The rescue operations by fire brigade, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and police began around midnight.
According the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Disaster Management Department’s smart rain tracker system, 106 mm rainfall was reported in Hadapsar-Mundhwa area. Kondhwa-Yewalewadi and Sahakar Nagar-Dhankawadi areas recorded 78.50-mm and 64-mm rainfall, respectively.
Pune Municipal Commissioner Saurabh Rao said, “We have evacuated 3,500 people and shifted them to nearby schools. The civic body and NGOs provided food and medicines to the affected people. The PMC carried out cleanliness in the affected areas and sprayed pesticide to prevent spread of vector-borne diseases.”
While addressing media, District Collector Naval Kishore Ram said that it is indeed a disaster situation and has caused huge losses. “The administration was continuously coordinating with all other departments to control the situation. Heavy rainfall in different pockets led to water logging,” he added.
Speaking about the loss of animal life, the collector said that about 832 animals including 44 cattle were killed in the floods and 14 were reported missing. The revenue department will start the panchnama of the incident to calculate the overall loss. About 5 NDRF teams are stationed at different spots to control the situation. Speaking on the compensation to the families of the deceased in the incident, Ram said that as per government norms, a compensation of Rs 4 lakh will be provided to the families of the deceased.
Speaking on illegal encroachments on banks of nalas which might be a cause of floods, the collector said that a government committee is already looking into the issue and the findings by the committee will be submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The deceased from Pune include Rohit Amle (13), Santosh Kadam (55), a woman named Saudilakar (32) and her 9-year-old son, Laxmibai Pawar (70), Jyotsana Rane (30). The deceased from Purandar include Gajrabai Khomane (70), Chakuli Khomane (22). The deceased from Haveli taluka include Gauri Suryavanshi, Aarti Suryavanshi, Sham Suryavanshi, Machindra Banavale, Suman Shinde (65) and Kishore Girme.
The rural areas of the district like Baramati, Purandar, Bhor and some parts of Haveli taluka were also badly affected due to rains. The collector said that water from Nazare dam was released at 85,000 cusecs which led to the swelling of Karha river.”The release was double the capacity i.e. 44,000 cusecs and so we had to rush to rescue people as nearby areas were under water. About 3,000 people were rescued and were shifted to 38 camps in Baramati. The situation is under control now,” added Ram.
As per the district administration, about 59 villages in 5 talukas of Pune were affected due to the rains which includes 21 villages in Baramati and 24 villages in Purandar and one in Bhor.