Heavy rain wreaks havoc in Nagpur, homes and roads submerged

Heavy rains have severely affected Vidarbha, especially Chandrapur and Nagpur.Citizens woke up to flooded houses and streets after heavy rains lashed the city in the wee hours of Saturday. The torrential rain continued till Saturday morning, disrupting normal life as water entered many houses, especially those situated along Nag river and Pili river. Firemen from NMC’s fire and emergency services department, along with SDRF jawans, were on their toes to attend rescue calls.

The heavy downpour led to the swelling of Ambazari lake, with the overflowing water submerging the road near the overflow point. “Water breached in Shankar Nagar, Corporation Colony, Daga Layout at 5 am itself after the retaining wall near a hospital broke, which resulted in turning the flow of flood towards the residential areas,” said officials from NMC’s fire and emergency services department.

Since the wee hours of Saturday, the fire department’s control room was flooded with complaints of water entering into houses in Corporation Colony, Shankar Nagar, especially those situated along Nag river,” said officials. Residents of Shankar Nagar ran to the terraces of their buildings to save their lives after they woke up with water gushing into their houses with great force. Within minutes, this old locality area was submerged, with water reaching as high as five feet. The water that gushed into bylanes washed away whatever came into its way.

“Pili river too overflowed, and water gushed into several houses in North Nagpur too,” said former corporator Manoj Sangole. “Due to the heavy downpour, the lake water in Gorewada lake level increased to 315.68 m (gate opening level is 315.45 m). Now, lake water is gushing out from the two open gates of Gorewada lake, leading to an increase in water level in Pili river,” said NMC spokesperson. DCM Devendra Fadnavis is continuously monitoring the heavy rain situation in Nagpur. Fadnavis instructed the Nagpur Collector, Municipal Commissioner and CP to immediately activate multiple teams for rescuing people who are stuck at few places. NDRF and SDRF teams are also being deployed.