Heavy showers cause waterlogging in Pune city; 268 mm rainfall so far in Oct

Heavy rains battered Maharashtra's Pune city overnight and on Tuesday morning, causing waterlogging and forcing evacuation of people from low-lying areas as the Shivajinagar locality alone received 104 mm rainfall in just five hours.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Pune city, an education and IT hub, has received 268 mm rainfall so far in October.

Waterlogging was witnessed in many areas, including Hadapsar, Market Yard, Sinhagad Road, NIBM Road, B T Kawade Road, Katraj, Deccan, Karve Nagar, Kothrud and Kondhwa.

Some people staying in low-lying areas and near banks of the the Karha river were shifted to safer places, district authorities said.

Seven goats were swept away in floodwaters in the Kanhur Mesai area of Shirur tehsil of the western Maharashtra city, they said.

According to the IMD, Shivajinagar recorded 104 mm rainfall in about five hours till 3 am on Tuesday, Magarpatta 116 mm and the Pashan area 94 mm during the same period.

Twelve people stranded in rainwaters in Mangalwar Peth and Kondhwa areas were rescued and moved to safer places, fire brigade officials said.

Twenty families staying near the Karha river in Jalgaon Kathe Pathar village of Baramati tehsil were also shifted after the river swelled following the release of water at the rate of 35,000 cubic foot per second (cusec) from the Nazre dam, district officials said.

IMD's weather forecasting department head Anupam Kashyapi said the satellite images revealed, ''There was enough moisture in the state.'' The rain activity in the city will reduce from Wednesday, he added.

Speaking about heavy showers on late Monday night and subsequent waterlogging in various parts of the city, Vikram Kumar, Commissioner, Pune Municipal Corporation, said this year's rainfall in the month of October has been unprecedented.

A few days ago too the city had received heavy showers.

''Yesterday, in a couple of hours, 105 mm rainfall was recorded. Rainfall of 65 mm (in a few hours) is considered heavy rainfall. However, yesterday almost double that rainfall was witnessed in the city,'' he said.

He said the PMC's stormwater system has been designed to handle 65 mm of rainfall, but on late Monday night and in early hours of Tuesday, 105 mm of showers was received which led to waterlogging and inundation of roads.

''When such a rain activity takes place, a lot of mud, soil and plastic go into stormwater lines which leads to obstruction in water flow. Our teams were on the ground to remove all these hurdles yesterday,'' said the senior bureaucrat.

Asked if there was a need to revamp stormwater lines in the city, the civic commissioner said the drainage system was designed after taking into consideration average rainfall of the last 100 years.

Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) criticised the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over waterlogging in the city.

Pawar, an MLA from Pune district, said the BJP has left the IT and education hub in a ''mess'' in the name of making it a ''smart'' city.

The BJP was in power in the Pune civic corporation for five years till the tenure of the elected body ended earlier this year.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)