Heavy rainfall in parts of Marathwada; IAF and Army rescue stranded people in Beed district

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Sept 15 (PTI) Four persons have died as heavy downpour pummelled Marathwada region of Maharashtra, triggering airlifting of 11 stranded people by an IAF chopper and evacuation of 40 others by an Army unit in Beed district on Monday. The fatalities were reported in Hingoli and Beed districts on Sunday and Monday, officials said.

"Eleven members of a family were stranded in Sheri Khurd hamlet near Kada village in Ashti taluka (Beed district). They were airlifted on Monday by an Air Force helicopter summoned from Nasik," a senior official told PTI.

The Army unit deployed in Ashti successfully evacuated 40 people with the help of an NDRF team and other agencies.

Heavy rains have soaked five of eight districts in Marathwada, sending several rivers into spate and marooning several areas. Keshegaon circle in Dharashiv district recorded the highest rainfall of 105 mm in the 24 hours ending at 8:30 AM on Monday, officials said.

Incessant rains flooded low-lying areas in Beed district, cutting off eight villages in Ashti taluka from the district headquarters.

The administration has announced the closure of schools for classes 1 to 7 in Beed district on Tuesday due to heavy rains and flooding, an official said.

As a precautionary measure, the district administration has decided to close anganwadis, primary, and middle schools on Tuesday.

Teachers and staff preparing for the Marathwada Mukti Sangram Din on September 17 are excluded from the order, the official added.

An orange alert has been issued for Beed and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, while a yellow alert has been sounded for Nanded, Latur, Dharashiv, Parbhani, Hingoli, and Jalna for Monday.

Heavy rainfall was recorded in 32 revenue circles across Beed, Latur, Dharashiv, Parbhani, and Hingoli districts.

A day earlier, an intense wet spell affected seven villages in Hingoli district. Two women from Gunda village of Vasmat drowned in flowing water and died, the official said.

Copious rains have boosted the water stock in eleven major irrigation projects in the region to 94.36 per cent. The water storage stood at 89.32 per cent on the same day last year.

Water is discharged at the rate of 1.51 lakh cusecs from ten irrigation projects, with the highest discharge of 91,854 cusecs underway from the Vishnupuri dam in Nanded, officials added.

Similarly, the water discharge from the Manjara irrigation project in Beed district has been increased to 17,333 cusecs in five hours on Monday. The discharge from the Majalgaon dam on the Sindphana river has been increased from 38,651 cusecs to 71,248 cusecs in four hours.

Nine gates of the dam will be lifted to 2 metres to facilitate the release of water, an official added. PTI AW ARU NSK