75 missing in flood-ravaged districts of Maharashtra

NDRF personnel rescue an old woman in a flood-affected area. Pics/NDRF

Search, rescue and relief operations are being carried out by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) as 75 people continue to remain missing in three different landslides reported in the Ratnagiri, Raigad and Satara districts of Maharashtra. Taliye village in Mahad tehsil of Raigad district is worst-hit, which is completely destroyed by the floods; around 37 people are still missing here amid slush of eight to 15 feet high hampering the search mission.

NDRF has deployed 1,000 personnel in three districts. NDRF sources say the situation remains challenging as the fear of further landslides and heavy rainfall cannot be ruled out in these areas. Anupam Srivastava, Commandant, NDRF, Pune, who is supervising the mission, says, "With every passing minute, we are missing the chance of finding anyone alive in the debris, but we are still hoping for a miracle. Had it been flowing water, the situation would have been different, but here, we are facing the biggest hurdle of soft slush, which is almost ranging from eight to 16 feet height."

All of Taliye village is ravaged

Elaborating on the search operation, he added, "We are handling two types of situations in five different parts of Maharashtra - in Kolhapur's Shiroli and Ambewadi, we are tackling water logging and flood situation, whereas in Khed, Ratnagiri, Koyna Nagar in Satara and Mahad [Taliye village], we are handling flooding and landslide that have destroyed houses. Many people are feared trapped beneath the debris. At Koyna Nagar in Satara, our team got 255 people to safety, but 10 continue to be missing."

The second challenge for the rescue team is the fear of contracting COVID-19. The Commandant shared, "Our staff has taken both doses of the jab, but as a precaution, we have provided them with a hood with an inbuilt wiper, which they need to compulsorily wear."

The Army and Navy are also part of the operations. The administration has announced a compensation of R5 lakh towards the dead and R50,000 to those injured and ex-gratia for damaged houses, livestock and farm produce. An additional R2 lakh has been annouced by the PM to next of kin.

Nizam Jalal, resident of Tol village, which is 10 km from Mahad, said that his relatives are from Taliye. "The water level was so high, that every household in the village got damaged."

37
No. of people still missing in Mahad tehsil of Raigad