Shawdesh Desk:

The toll in the Maharashtra flood climbed to 207 with 15 more deaths recorded on Tuesday morning.

Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari will be on a day’s visit to the flood-affected areas of the Raigad and Ratnagiri districts today. The Governor will be visiting the Taliye village and Chiplun during his visit.

According to the state government’s report, Raigad has recorded the highest death toll with 95 deaths so far followed by 45 in Satara and 35 in Ratnagiri. While 51 people have sustained injuries, 11 people were reported missing till Tuesday morning.

Heavy rains have lashed districts like Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur since June 22 leading to flooding and landslides in various places.

The government said that the rescue teams have evacuated 3,75,178 people so far with the highest number of 2,06,619 rescued from Sangli followed by 1,50,365 from Kolhapur. In all, 1028 villages have been affected in the state due to the heavy rains since July 22.

At present, 18 rescue teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and three teams of the armed forces have been deployed.

Besides, 313 animal deaths have been reported so far in the affected districts and 28787 poultry deaths in the Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara and Sindhudurg districts.

On Monday, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting to review the flood situation and assess the damages caused in the flood-affected districts in the state during which he instructed the administration to restore the electricity and water supply immediately and carry out the road repair works on war-footing in the affected districts.

Thackeray also said that a flood warning system should be set up in Konkan in three months and to avoid the repeat of such natural disasters, district-wise proposals should be prepared for the construction of the flood protection walls for the localities or small pockets in the villages.

According to the government officials, in all, the power supply of 9.59 lakh consumers have been affected of which the electricity of 6.50 lakh consumers has been restored so far. Besides, the 14,737 transformers have been damaged of which 9500 have been repaired so far.

Besides, the water supply schemes in the flood-hit 746 villages have been damaged in various parts of the state. The 290 roads need immediate repairs and the traffic has been stopped on the 469 roads. Around 800 small and large bridges have been submerged, said an official.

Source: The Indian Express