KOLHAPUR: On Sunday evening, following incessant rainfall in the dam catchment area, four automatic gates of the Radhanagari dam — Gates 3, 4, 5, and 6 — opened and started discharging water at 7,125 cusec into the Bhogawati river, which is a tributary of the Panchaganga river.
The Panchaganga water level receded during the day and by 8 pm on Sunday, the river was flowing at 50.6 feet — still much above the danger mark of 43 feet — at the Rajaram barrage. With four Radhanagari gates opening, there is likely to be an increase in the Panchaganga river water level again later in the night.
Many low-lying areas in Kolhapur city are still inundated. The water receded in Laxmipuri, Parekh bridge, Rajarampuri areas and traffic movement restarted here on Sunday. However, Venus Corner, parts of Nagala park, Basant-Bahar Talkies road, Mukt-Sainik Vasahat, Kadamwadi, Jadhavwadi remained heavily waterlogged.
As per the district disaster management officials, in the past three days, 1.5 lakh people have been evacuated from the 388 flood-affected villages in the district. Shirol taluka in Kolhapur district faces the continued threat of massive flooding with the increasing water level in the Panchaganga and Krishna rivers. Rescue teams of the NDRF and the Indian Army are carrying out evacuation drives on a large scale in affected villages.
Kolhapur district received 22.5 mm rainfall in the 24-hour period ending on Sunday at 6 pm.
Radhanagari received the highest rainfall (63mm), while Shiroli received the least rainfall (0.6mm) on Sunday. Recordings of the Gaganbawda region couldn’t be noted because of technical issues. Currently, 84 barrages are still submerged across the district.
More landslides reported
Meanwhile, landslides were reported at Andur in Gagan Bawda tehsil, Karanjfen and Vishalgad areas on Sunday.
A recently inaugurated petrol pump came under landslide debris at the Karanjfen village. No casualties were reported here.
The road leading to Borbet from the Andur dam caved in obstructing entire traffic on the route. A landslide in Vishalgad left a 10-foot crater in a farm.
