The depression that has caused torrential rainfall mainly in Kerala , Karnataka , Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, claiming at least 70 lives and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, is expected to abate from Saturday, the chief of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Friday.
“Except for Rajasthan, there will be a marked reduction in rain from tomorrow [Saturday]. While these are extremely heavy rains, they are nowhere close to record rainfall that these States have witnessed in the past,” M. Mohapatra, Director-General, IMD, told The Hindu .
Extremely heavy rains battered the western coastal States and many parts of the Western Ghats on Thursday night, killing 28 persons in central and northern districts of Kerala and prompting the evacuation of nearly 65,000 people.
Rescue under way
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday that at Kavalappara near Nilambur in Malappuram district, rescue workers were struggling to trace at least 40 people feared trapped in a massive landslip. “Three bodies have been recovered,” he said after a review meeting.
The bodies of nine people were recovered from Meppadi, Wayanad district, the site of a second landslip. “It is not yet clear how many people were affected... Rescue operations using excavators are in progress. Eleven deaths have been reported in Wayanad district so far,” Mr. Vijayan said.
As of Friday, 64,103 people had been shifted to 738 camps in the flood-hit districts. Thirteen dams — seven maintained by the Kerala State Electricity Board and six by the Water Resources Department — were opened. Twelve teams of the NDRF were deployed and Army units rushed to Idukki and Malappuram, he said.
The IMD has issued red alerts in seven districts — Ernakulam, Idukki, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad and Kannur — for Saturday.
In Karnataka, mudslides and flash floods in Kodagu district resulted in seven deaths in 24 hours, and eight people were reported missing. There was one rain-related death in Mysuru district. Rain intensified in the southern districts on Friday but abated in north Karnataka districts.
Across Karnataka, there were 1.74 lakh people in relief camps, about 35,000 of them rescued since Thursday night. About 64,300 hectares of agriculture land was inundated, taking the total area affected to 2.56 lakh hectares. Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa put the preliminary estimate of flood losses at ₹5,000 crore, and Union Minister of Paliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi said that the Centre had released ₹200 crores for flood relief.
Houses buried
In the worst hit Kodagu district, five members belonging to two families were buried alive after their houses located next to each other collapsed in a landslip at Korangala village near Bhagamandala. Local residents rescued three persons.
In five districts of Western Maharashtra, the death toll in the last fortnight has touched 29, while 2.35 lakh people have been evacuated from Sangli and Kolhapur, besides 50,000 in Satara, Pune and Solapur.
Pune Divisional Commissioner Dr. Deepak Mhaisekar said the casualties include nine people who died in Sangli boat accident on Thursday, and 11 people were missing, nine of them from the boat incident.
Deficit wiped out
Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris district recorded a staggering 91 cm of rain at Avalanche for a 24-hour period until Friday morning.
Six people have died in rain-related incidents in the Nilgiris in the week-long showers. The deaths were caused by collapsing buildings, flood waters and landslips. Three women and an 8-year-old child are among the dead.
In Gujarat, 26 out of 30 gates of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada dam were opened for the first time in two years to maintain water level at the 131.18-metre limit.
While the rain has had a devastating impact, it has nearly wiped out the monsoon deficit. The IMD on Friday said the monsoon deficit was down from 10.5% on July 31 to 0.6% as of August 9.
The IMD forecast was a 4% below normal season from June-September. Mr. Mohapatra said such spells were typical for August, but not reason enough to assume yet that it would be a ‘normal’ monsoon.
A new rain-bearing system was seen forming in the Bay of Bengal by August 12 with potential to bring rain to North India, particularly Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.
“So far, 83 National Disaster Response Force teams have been positioned in vulnerable areas of flood-affected states along with all necessary equipment. These are in addition to the 173 teams of Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. Control Rooms in the Ministry of Home Affairs, NDRF, IMD, and Central Water Commission are keeping a close watch. They have evacuated over 82,000 people to safer places and rescued 2,325 people,” a statement from the Press Information Bureau said. This followed a review meeting chaired by the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai.
The Sardar Sarovar Narmada dam continued to fill up fast but acted to maintain the water level at 131.18 metres, the limit allowed by Narmada Control Authority. Gujarat
The administration alerted the downstream districts of Narmada, Bharuch and Vadodara about potential flooding. Several bridges have been closed as the Narmada is flowing at danger level.Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam MD Rajiv Kumar Gupta visited Sardar Sarovar dam. Dr. Gupta tweeted that the 1200 MW power house was operated on Thursday after a gap of two years.
On Friday, Gujarat continued to receive medium to heavy rainfall. More than 3,000 people were shifted to safer locations.
The Gujarat government said 168 taluks received rain during the last 24 hours, and 14 dams and reservoirs were overflowing. But total monsoon rainfall in the State stood at 66.41% in the season.
Massive rainfall in Tamil Nadu's elevated ranges in the Western Ghats paralysed life in the plains, with the Noyyal, Bhavani and Moyar rivers swelling up to the brim. Valparai, the tea and coffee-growing part of the mountains was lashed by torrential rain, sending copious inflows to reservoirs in the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project.
The record for the highest rain volume in the State, held by Cuddalore since 1943, was broken for two consecutive days in Avalanche in the Nilgiris, with 820 mm on Thursday, and 911 mm on Friday.
