21-year-old who alerted family of rising water levels, slips into water stream
Ananta and Suvarna Komane, parents of Smita. Pics/Pradeep Dhivar
Saswad: Forty kilometres from Pune city, in Saswad taluka, around four people are missing. The Komanes the seventh descendants of freedom fighter Umaji Naik say they have had to conduct the funeral of their dear one on the road. With their own home flooded, they have taken shelter at a neighbour's place.
Smita alias Chakuli Ananta Komane, 22, a second year of BSc student, was sitting outside her house, and studying when she noticed water levels rising. She alerted the villagers, but while trying to help others she and her grandmother Gajarabai, 75, got carried away by the water.
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Bharat Nana Kshirsagar at his Sai Krupa Hotel in Narayanpur, pointing to the destruction that the floods have caused
The Komanes live in a joint family in the Bhiwadi village of Saswad near the Purandhar fort premises. The entire house is still surrounded by water and only one cow of the 12 cows and buffalo is alive. On Thursday, a team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) managed to find Gajarabai's body and the family is praying for Smita's survival.
Chandrakant, a Komane, said, "Our main business is dairy and farming. We had 12 cows, buffaloes and oxen as well as five sheep and some 20 roosters. We all were watching a television show and were about to give fodder for animals. Smita came running saying that the water level had increased. We all moved out one by one. Six of us climbed the jamun tree while one went atop the cow shed."
He added, "Just as Smita and my mother Gajarabai were climbing the shed, the electricity went off. We were screaming for help then someone came to rescue us with the rope that we use to tie to our animals. Before us our animals were flowing helplessly and my niece who ensured we were all safe, along with my mother, slipped into the water. We still are in hope that Smita is alive."
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