Mahad marooned: Villagers furious at district administration for sending help too late

In Mahad tehsil of Raigad district lashing rain all of Thursday evening left residents marooned in 10 to 15 feet of water and cut off from the world with no power and mobile network Among the worstaffected villages in Mahad was Taliye where a landslide on Thursday killed 36 people More villagers were feared trappedBy Friday afternoon residents from nearby villages rushed to Taliye only to find most houses buried under mud and rocks They managed to pull out around 30 locals but they were all dead They couldnrsquot continue the search further as they did not have the required equipment or trainingrdquo said an activist from a neighbouring village who did not wish to be namedLocals furious with adminResidents across Mahad are furious by the lack of support from the district administration whom they have blamed for the delay in sending the rescue teams The first NDRF team reached Taliye only by Friday afternoon By the time of going to press a total of 36 bodies had been recovered from Taliye and rescue operation was underway as more were feared trappedSeveral houses at a village in Mahad are submerged in floodwater following incessant rainfall since Thursday evening an aerial view of a completely inundated region in Ratnagiri district taken on Thursday evening Indian Air Force carries out rescue operation in RatnagirildquoThis flooding in Mahad is worse than that of 2005 We had no prior warning that the water would rise to such a level If the district administration knew why didnrsquot it move people out in advance We have lost everything our homes and belongings destroyed within secondsrdquo the activist saidWhat caused floodingMahad is located at the southernmost tip of Raigad district in Konkan region and Savitri river flows through the tehsilWith heavy rain lashing Mahabaleshwar for the past few days water level in the already overflowing Savitri river was rising consistently The incessant rainfall coupled with high tide in the river led to the flooding in Mahad explained a district officialPriyanka Kamble tehsildar of Mangaon a taluka close to Mahad said ldquoThe mobile network and power supply in Mahad and other nearby affected areas have been affected badly hence we are not able to get information fast We are sending our staff to the affected areas So far 36 bodies have been removed from Taliye and now the biggest challenge is to provide relief food and drinking water to the affected areas It has started raining again hampering rescue operationsrdquoWhen asked about Covid19 affected people in Mahad Kamble said ldquoThree patients were shifted to Mangaon for better treatment a few days ago and a handful of other patients were moved to a Covid centre at a higher altitude near Mahad However there were a few asymptomatic patients in home quarantinerdquoDownpour for next 48 hrsDistrict Collector Nidhi Choudhary was not reachable for comment Sources linked to her office said ldquoItrsquos raining again in Mahabaleshwar A few connecting roads are open but floodwater hasnrsquot fully receded Rescue teams are on standby anticipating the water level to increase further The weather department has already announced a spell of heavy to very heavy rainfall for Raigad and neighbouring areas for the next 48 hoursrdquoldquoOur priority is to carry out rescue and relief work on war footing The administration would pay compensation as per the disaster management normsrdquo Anupam Srivastava commandant NDRF Pune is monitoring the rescue operation from the command headquarter He was not available for commentRoad connectivity hitAn NDRF official said ldquoAt this point 18 NDRF team 47 personnel in each team are deployed in various floodaffected areas of Maharashtra including Kolhapur Sangli Palghar Thane Ratnagiri Mahad Raigad districts Eight additional teams from Odisha have been airlifted and four teams have already landed in Pune Four more teams are likely to join soon Two teams each are deployed in Raigad and Ratnagiri districts They will get two additional teams eachrdquoSpeaking about the challenges on the ground the official said ldquoLandslides and flooding have impacted road connectivity Floodwater is not receding due to frequent spells of heavy rainfall Power supply and mobile networks are down and even our radio operators are finding it difficult to restore communication with usrdquoMeanwhile the Air Force the Navy and the Coast Guard too have pressed their helicopters to provide aerial supportLandslides in other districtsNDRF sources told midday that another landslide has damaged sixseven houses in Khosre Khurd village Khed Ratnagiri An NDRF team has recovered three dead bodies and rescued 14 people trapped under the debris Search operation was on till the time of going to pressMeanwhile another NDRF team was sent to Madgaon village in Satara where 265 people were trapped following a landslide The team rescued 255 people but 10 others are still feared to be buried under heavy debris Additional manpower has been called said an NDRF official18No of NDRF teams deployed in floodhit areas of state02No of NDRF teams Raigad will get48No of hrs rain will continue in Raigad