Mumbai: As rains continue to batter Maharashtra, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will inspect the flood situation in Chiplun on Sunday. According to the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), Thackeray along with other officials will arrive at Chiplun by noon and will inspect the relief and rescue operations there. He will then leave Anjanvel for Mumbai by helicopter at 2.40 pm, the CMO added.
The death toll from the torrential rains that battered Maharashtra over the last few days rose to 112 on Saturday, as per data provided by the state government. With six more bodies being recovered from the landslide-hit Mirgaon village Saturday night, the death toll in rain-related incidents in Western Maharashtra's Satara district rose to 28 while at least 14 persons are reportedly still missing. The rain intensity reduced in Satara district on Sunday and authorities continued search operations for those missing. Satara Superintendent of Police (SP) Ajay Kumar Bansal said, "The search operation for those missing has begun since morning. We will be able to complete the operation by noon. Since last evening, there is relief due to less or no rain which will help in speeding up the search operation."
Watch: NDRF rescues stranded power dept employees as rains batter Palghar in Maharashtra
Over 75,000 people shifted in Kolhapur so far; seven dead
Seven persons have died in rain-related incidents in Kolhapur district so far while more than 75,000 people have been shifted to safer places. As many as six teams of the NDRF and a column of the Army carried out rescue operations in the flood-hit areas, said district guardian minister Satej Patil. The minister said that 67,111 people from flood-affected areas chose to go to their relatives' places, while over 8,000 were shifted to government shelters.
Read: Maha: 13 bodies recovered from two landslide sites in Satara
Mumbai-Bengaluru stretch in Kolhapur still waterlogged
Traffic remained suspended on the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway as a stretch in neighbouring Kolhapur was still inundated. "The vehicular traffic remained suspended on the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway as the stretch near Shiroli village continued to be inundated, Kolhapur SP Shailesh Balkawade said.
More NDRF teams deployed for rescue and relief operations
Meanwhile, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed 8 more teams in flood-affected areas in Maharashtra, taking the total number of NDRF teams deployed for rescue and relief operations in the state to 34. Officials informed that two teams of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have left for Raigad and Kolhapur. "A team of Mumbai Municipal Corporation has been sent to Mahad in Raigad district to carry out relief work. This includes two medical teams, 1 mobile medical laboratory, about 75 staff of solid waste management department, 4 water tankers, 1 towing lorry etc," an official said.
3221 animals died in flood-hit areas
As per the information provided by the Relief and Rehabilitation Department at 9.30 pm on Saturday, 3221 animals have died in the flood-hit areas in the state over the last three days.
(with agency inputs)