At least 79 people were killed and 56 were missing as the flood situation in Maharashtra remained grim on Saturday. Torrential rainfall in various parts of the state, coinciding with high tides and also discharge from dams, led to inundation of many regions and floods caused landslides in some places too. Rescue and relief works were on, and at least 89,333 people were evacuated.

Mahad and Poladpur in Raigad, Chiplun in Ratnagiri along with various areas in Satara, Kolhapur and Sangli have been affected. Also flood situation arose in the districts of Thane and Palghar, an official update said.

The Disaster Management, Relief & Rehabilitation department in order to aid response to the floods deployed teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) across all the affected districts.

Apart from the 17 teams of the NDRF, extra eight teams were requisitioned from Odisha. Support has been sought from other forces including the army, navy, coast guard and Air force.

The towns of Chiplun and Khed were completely inundated due to discharge from the Koyna dam and subsequently the Koltewadi dam leading to the rise in the levels of the Vashisti river. The contact from the towns was completely cut off due to land routes being inundated. The bridge over the Vashisiti on the Mumbai-Chiplun route was washed off. Thousands of people were stranded on rooftops and upper floors of the houses as the water levels rose to over 15 to 20 feet in many places.

The NDRF and Coast Guard teams were deployed. Helicopters of the air force were also deployed for rescue and air dropping of food and water packets. Relief camps were set up at three locations where all arrangements were made for the rescued people. One column of the army was also dispatched for relief efforts. Coast Guard teams were also dispatched to the spot. More than 1,000 people were safely evacuated by the various response teams. The rains also led to landslide in Khed Taluka. NDRF teams worked to rescue trapped people from the debris.

The waters in most places were decreasing and cleaning work was in progress, the official note said. A fund of Rs. 2 crore has been provided to the district for response and relief through the State Disaster Response Fund.

Raigad district
Heavy rainfall lead the Savitri river bursting its banks and flooding Mahad and Poladpur regions. The whole town of Mahad was completely cut off and was not accessible by road. Many people were stranded on roof tops and upper floors of the houses. Due to heavy flow of the Savitri over the bridges, rescue teams could not reach the said regions. NDRF teams were airlifted to the locations for rescue efforts. However, they coud not land due to bad weather. Subsequently rescue was carried out by the NDRF and relief camps were set up at Mangaon. The heavy rainfall also caused landslides at three locations in the two talukas: Village Tayle, Taluka Mahad, Village Sakharsutarwaadi and Kevnale in Taluka Poladpur.

Currently, the waters in Mahad have receded and clean-up was in progress. A fund of Rs. 2 crore has been provided to Raigad for response from the department through the State Disaster Response Fund.
 
Satara district
Due to torrential rainfall in the district with Mahabaleshwar receiving more than 1,100 mm of rainfall in less than 48 hours resulted in heavy discharge from the Koyna dam. The heavy rainfall has caused landslides in multiple places.

On Saturday morning, due to the continuous rainfall and the discharge from the dam, water levels across various parts of the district were rising. The district administration is shifting people from vulnerable areas and is on high alert for impending flood situation. Extra teams are being deployed in anticipation of the same.

Kolhapur and Sangli districts
Due to heavy rainfall in the district and heavy discharge from the Koyna dam, rivers in the district including the Panchgana have breached the danger mark and have caused inundation in many areas. District administration has evacuated people from low lying areas with help of NDRF and local teams.

However, the Almatti dam is also discharging water due to which the situation is still under control. The district is on high alert and more teams are being deployed to face any eventuality. A fund of Rs. 50 lakhs has been allocated to all other affected districts for immediate response.

Evacuation of Affected People, by district
Ratnagiri: 1200
Satara: 734
Thane: 2681
Kolhapur: 40882
Sangli: 42573
Pune: 263
Raigad:1000
Total    89333

Loss of Life
Raigad: 47
Ratnagiri: 11           
Kolhapur: 5
Satara: 6
Sangli: 8       
Sindhudurg:2
Mumbai: 4
Pune: 1
Thane: 2
Total: 76