Incessant rainfall brings floods to many states in India

Mumbai: The death toll continues to climb as rain persists unabated after pounding the southern and western states for days. The situation remains grim in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala were 157 people have lost their lives due to the monsoon fury.

All rivers are in spate in Karnataka where the UNESCO world heritage site in Hampi, on the banks of the Tungabhadra River in Ballari district, has been inundated after over 1.70 lakh cusec water was released from a reservoir on Sunday morning. Tourists in Hampi have been shifted to safer places, officials said.

The unprecedented deluge since last week has left 31 people dead and displaced four lakh people in 80 taluks of 17 districts in Karnataka.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah undertook an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas of Karnataka and Maharashtra.

The Army, Navy, Coast Guard, NDRF, police force, volunteers and fishermen are involved in the rescue operation in various places.

The Southern Railway on Sunday cancelled 10 trains, including the Mangaluru-Thiruvananthapuram Express, Maveli Express, Malabar Express, Kannur-Ernakulam Intercity Express and the Ernakulam-Bengaluru Intercity Express.

The railways announced waiver of freight charges for transportation of relief materials to Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala, where over 10 lakh people had to be shifted from their homes to escape inundation.

"All government organisations across the country can book relief material free of cost to Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra as of now. Other organisations, as deemed fit by the divisional Railway manager, may also avail of this provision," Deputy Director (Traffic Commercial) of the Railway Board Mahendar Singh said in a letter to all railway general managers.

The Ballari district administration in Karnataka has asked people living along the river banks to move to safer places as all 33 gates of the Tungabhadra Dam were opened in the wake of incessant rains.

Around 35 people have been killed in rain-related incidents in five districts of western Maharashtra in a week, including 17 who drowned when a boat capsized near Brahmanal village in Sangli on Thursday.

Four lakh people have so far been moved to safety from the flood-affected areas of Maharashtra, officials said on Sunday, adding 761 villages in 69 tehsils are affected by the deluge.

Over five lakh cusec of water has been discharged from Almatti dam on the Krishna River in Karnataka to ease the flood situation in western Maharashtra.

Koyna dam in Satara discharged 53,882 cusecs of water as its catchment area was still experiencing torrential rains, an official said.

With the recovery of five more bodies, the toll in the boat capsize incident in Sangli rose to 17, another official said, adding water has started receding in some areas of the district.

Rains pounded Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Thane, Pune, Nashik, Palghar, Ratnagiri, Raigad and Sindhudurg districts in the state in the last one week.

"The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed 29 teams, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) three, Coast Guard 16, Navy 41 and Army 21 in these 10 districts," an official said.

Heavy showers continued to lash parts of Gujarat taking the toll in rain-related incidents to 31, including 12 deaths were reported from Saurashtra region since Saturday.

Several parts of central Gujarat and Saurashtra and Kutch regions have been receiving heavy rains for the last three days.

A police official said on Sunday five fishermen drowned after three boats caught in rough weather in the Arabian sea capsized off the Porbandar coast in Saurashtra region.

In another incident, seven people from Vavdi village in Surendranagar have swept away in the strong current of Falku river as they were trying to cross a causeway on Saturday evening, a police official said.

"Six bodies have so far been recovered," he said.

Since Saturday, Nakhatrana taluka in Kutch district received 321 mm of rains, Tankara in Morbi district gauged 268 mm of rainfall, while Dhrangadhra taluka in Surendranagar recorded 209 mm of rains.