Maharashtra Rains: Traffic on Mumbai-Bengaluru highway disrupted

The Western Naval Command Mumbai has mobilised flood rescue teams and helicopters to provide assistance to the state for rescuing those marooned in floodhit areas of Raigad and Ratnagiri defence officials said here on FridayFollowing a request by Maharashtra Government seven naval rescue teams reached Raigad and Ratnagiri districts by roadEn route they encountered adverse weather conditions and widespread inundation in affected areas and are being deployed as per directions of the civil administrationThe navy is also taking up the airlift of marooned people from Poland in Raigad for which a Seaking 42C helicopter departed from the INS Shikra early todayThe naval Flood Rescue Teams are fully selfsustained and equipped with Gemini rubber boats loud hailers first aid kits life jackets and life buoys manned by specialist Naval Divers and diving equipmentAdditional Flood Rescue Teams are being maintained on a high degree of readiness at Mumbai for immediate deployment should the need arise said a navy spokespersonAt least nine persons were killed as unprecedented torrential rains pounded the coastal and western Maharashtra for the past 36 hoursSeveral towns and villages in Raigad Ratnagiri have been flooded marooning thousands and over two dozen villages were completely cut off from the rest of the stateMeanwhile traffic on the MumbaiBengaluru national highway got disrupted on Friday after a stretch of road in Belgaum district of Karnataka got inundated prompting the police in Maharashtrarsquos Kolhapur to stop the vehicles going to the neighbouring state as a safety measure officials saidRains continued to lash parts of Kolhapur due to which the Panchganga river in the district is flowing above the danger mark they saidTalking about the traffic situation on the MumbaiBengaluru highway Kolhapurrsquos district superintendent of police Shailesh Balkawde said ldquoAhead of Kagal in Kolhapur a stretch of road near a village in Belgaum district of Karnataka has got inundated due to rainwater on Friday Therefore we have stopped the flow of traffic going towards the neighbouring state from the Kolhapur siderdquoAn official from the Kolhapur district disaster management cell said the water level of the Panchganga river continues to rise ldquoTill 9 am on Friday the water level of the river at the Rajaram weir reached 481 feet It is well above the danger mark of 43 feetrdquo he saidA total of 114 bunds have gone under water he addedOfficials of the district administration had said on Thursday said that as many as 47 villages in Kolhapur were cut off after roads leading to them were submerged in water due to heavy rains and 965 families were shifted to safer places They had also said that two persons including a woman were also swept away at different places in the district during the downpourThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever