Regional Meteorological Centre Mumbai on Thursday forecasted very intense clouds over entire ghat areas Raigad, Pune, Satara including Ratnagiri district. The Met department has issued red warning in Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Pune, Satara, Kolhapur for July 22 with extremely heavy rainfall in isolated places.
Several roads in Maharashtra's Kolhapur, including a few state highways, have been shut for traffic as some of the stretches have gone underwater as a result of incessant rains in the district over the past two days, officials said on Thursday.
In the 24-hour period that ended at 8 am on Thursday, this western Maharashtra district recorded 93 mm rainfall, they said. The water level of Kolhapur's Panchganga river recorded at the Rajaram weir has crossed the "warning level", the district disaster management cell said.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has rushed two teams to Ratnagiri's Khed and Chiplun areas to tackle critical situation due to high tide and heavy rain on Thursday, informed district administration. The Indian Coast Guard has been asked for aerial help as a precautionary measure. Local corporation teams are conducting rescue operations with 5 boats.
Nearly 6,000 passengers were stranded as train services on the Konkan Railway route in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district were suspended on Thursday after a river overflowed following heavy rains in the area, officials said.
Water level at the Vashishti river bridge between Chiplun and Kamathe stations in Ratnagiri has risen above the danger mark after the heavy downpour, an official said.
Train services of the Central Railway in the Kasara Ghat section of Maharashtra's Thane district and near Lonavala hill town in Pune district adjoining Mumbai were also severely affected on Thursday after heavy rains caused flooding, washing out of tracks, boulder crashes and mudslides in that region, officials said.
