Rains flood many areas in Maharashtra's Kolhapur; 10,000 evacuated

Pune: Low-lying areas in Maharashtra's Kolhapur district were flooded this morning following incessant rains, forcing around 10,000 people to leave their homes and shift to safer places, a senior official said.

"The national highway between south Kolhapur and Belgaum in Karnataka was shut for vehicular traffic due to water-logging in the area," senior police officer in Kolhapur Abhinav Deshmukh told PTI.

"On Monday, we closed one side of the national highway. However, as rains increased, we had to shut the entire national highway in the early hours of Tuesday," he said.

Kolhapur has been witnessing "unprecedented" rains, causing a flood-like situation in several tehsils, he said.

"On Monday, we shifted more than 4,500 people from low-lying areas, and today, over 6,000 people have been evacuated from several villages," Deshmukh said.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), fire brigade, local administration and police have been roped in for help as some rivers in the district are flowing above the danger mark, he said.

"An Army column (comprising around 60 personnel) has been summoned from Pune. They are likely to join the rescue operation in the district soon," the official said.

Due to incessant rains in western Maharashtra, the district administrations of Pune, Satara, Kolhapur and Sangli declared a holiday for schools and colleges on Tuesday, sources said.