PUNE, 3 August 2005 — Heavy rains continued to lash several districts of Maharashtra and the government had to summon the army, navy and air force to help control the situation and assist in the evacuation of stranded people in the flooded areas and bring them to safety locations. In all 25,000 people were evacuated though there were no immediate reports of any casualties.
Red alert was sounded in Pune, as all the bridges in the city and in the twin city of Pimpri-Chinchwad were under water. Rivers swelled and water was released from the three major dams to avoid any major damage to the dams. Bridges were closed and an army column was moved to Sangvi suburbs to help in the evacuations of 3000 families trapped in the floodwaters. Traffic was totally disrupted and police had a hard time diverting the traffic thru other routes.
About 40 major dams in the Pune region were full to their capacity due to heavy rains. The rising waters of the rivers submerged 50 transformers forcing the Maharashtra State Distribution Company to cut off power supply since last night. The sewage plants were affected and people in housing societies had to go without water, as pumps could not operate due to power cuts. All schools and colleges were closed and employees in government and private offices were sent home.
In Sangli the civic authorities evacuated over 70,000 families from the Krishna and Godawari areas, where most rivers are flowing above the danger mark. Authorities with the help of the defense forces also evacuated hundreds of families from Satara, Karad, Kolhapur, Sholapur, Nanded, Pandharpur and Parbhani districts of western Maharashtra and Vidarbha. The army, equipped with several boats, was assisting the civic administration in rescue and relief operations.
As Pune and the rest of Maharashtra continued to battle with the onslaught of rains, the city of Bombay was limping back to normalcy, having a respite yesterday after seven days of heavy rains.
All local trains, the lifeline of Bombay, were running on schedule but moving at slow speed. Long distance trains were temporarily held up this morning near Surat, after waterlogging at Nalsopara station. Traffic was resumed on the Western Railways after water dispersed from the tracks.
However, long distance train traffic remains disrupted till Aug. 6 on the Central Railway section, and Bombay has been totally cut off with Southern India.
