Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray instructs officials to `be on high alert` amid heavy rain warning, Red alert issued for Konkan

New Delhi: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday (July 22) instructed officials to be on high alerts as India Meteorological Department forecaste heavy to very heavy rains for the next three days in several parts of the state. A red alert has been issued for Konkan region.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed nine rescue teams in Maharashtra, including four in Mumbai, after heavy rains caused flooding in some coastal areas of the state on Thursday. Mumbai, its neighbouring Thane and Palghar and other districts in the Konkan region have been witnessing heavy downpour since the last few days, leading to inundation at several places and disruption of rail and road transport services. Water level of many rivers has risen and crossed the danger mark at some places.

An official statement issued by the NDRF said four of its teams have been deployed in Mumbai, and one each in Thane and Palghar districts. Besides, two teams have been sent to Kolhapur district. One of it will undertake rescue or preventive evacuation in the flood-prone Shirol tehsil, while the other one will conduct rescue work in Kolhapur city, the NDRF said.

Some villages in the Sahapur taluka of Thane were marooned, a local official earlier said, adding that authorities with the help of the NDRF rescued hundreds of people from those places.
Incidents of water-logging leaving people stranded were also reported from Mumbra, Bhiwandi, Titwala and Kasara areas of Thane district. Various places in Vasai, Virar and other locations in Palghar also witnessed flooding, but no loss of life was reported so far, officials said.

Train services of the Central Railway in the Kasara Ghat section of Thane and near Lonavala hill town in Pune district adjoining Mumbai were severely affected after heavy rains caused flooding, washing out of tracks, boulder crashes and mudslides in that region, officials said.

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. So far, nine trains have been regulated due to disruption of services on the route, they said. Regulating trains means they have been either rerouted, short-terminated or cancelled. Konkan Railway officals said these trains were at safe locations on different stations and the passengers in them were also safe and they were being provided food and water.

Water level at the Vashishti river bridge between Chiplun and Kamathe stations in Ratnagiri has risen above the danger mark after the heavy downpour.