Water Level of Panchganga River Touches Danger Mark in Kolhapur After Incessant Rains

Water level of the Panchganga river at Kolhapur in western Maharashtra touched the danger mark on Thursday following incessant rainfall in the region, the district disaster management cell said. Residents of some flood-prone villages located on the banks of the river have been shifted to safer places, an official said.

Kolhapur Collector Daulat Desai earlier appealed to people living on the river banks to shift to safer places.

Around 4 pm on Thursday, water level of the Panchganga river at Rajaram weir in Kolhapur reached 43 feet, which is the danger mark, according to the disaster management cell. Nine state highways and 25 other roads in the district were affected due to the rains, a Public Works Department official said.

An official from the disaster control room here said the Radhanagari dam in the district is filled up to 95 per cent of its total capacity. "The water storage capacity of the dam is 8.7 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) and currently 1,400 cusecs (cubic foot per second) water is being discharged," he said.

Rain activity in Kolhapur city has come down, but sporadic showers are going on in the catchment areas of the rivers in the district, he said. "Some residents and livestock, from villages which are flood-prone and situated on the banks of Panchganga, have been shifted to safer places," he added.

An official from the irrigation department said owing to good rainfall in the catchment areas of the Koyna dam in the district, 2,427 cusecs water was being released. As a pre-emptive measure, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has already deployed four teams in Kolhapur district.

On Wednesday evening, Kolhapur's Guardian Minister Satej Patil took stock of the situation and instructed the administration to be prepared to handle a possible flood situation in the district.

The Sangli district administration had also asked people living on the banks of the Krishna, Warna and Koyna rivers to remain alert. Last year, unprecedented rains wreaked havoc in western Maharashtra, especially in Kolhapur and Sangli districts, claiming over 60 lives.