Heavy rains continued to pummel western Maharashtra through the day on Wednesday, affecting traffic in Kolhapur, Sangli and parts of Pune city.

 

Incessant rain in the past 72 hours have resulted in the four major dams in Pune district — Khadakwasla, Panshet, Varasgaon and Temghar — filling up to 75% of their storage capacity.

 

The dams collectively have a storage capacity of 29.15 TMC. The total storage till Tuesday morning was 22.59 TMC and continued to increase due to rainfall in the catchment areas.

 

Discharge of excess water from the Khadkwasla dam resulted in the submergence of the Bhide bridge on Tuesday, leading to traffic snarls on several arterial roads.

 

 

It continued to rain steadily over the city on Wednesday as well, though with less intensity.

 

Pune has already received surplus rainfall barely two months into the monsoon, recording 561.8 mm till Tuesday morning and exceeding the normal rainfall figure of 545.7 mm for this period, said Dr. Anupam Kashyapi, Head, Weather & Air Pollution Monitoring Unit, India Meteorological Department.

 

“The city is expected to receive moderate rainfall on Thursday while the showers are expected to reduce partially by the end of the week. However, heavy rains are expected to resume in the State from August 3 and is likely to prevail till August 6,” Dr. Kashyapi told The Hindu.

 

He further said that Maharashtra had already received a surplus rainfall of 7% despite the deficiency in the arid Marathwada region.

 

“The Konkan region and Goa have recorded an excess of 26%, while central Maharashtra has recorded an excess of 28% rainfall. Steady rains in Gadchiroli and Nagpur over the past 24 hours and other parts of the usually parched Vidarbha region have brought the deficit down to 19% from 29% [for Vidarbha],” said Dr. Kashyapi.

 

However, despite these positives, Marathwada continues to be problematic with the rainfall deficit figure down to 27% from 30%.

 

“While Beed, Nanded, Hingoli and some other parts in Marathwada have been receiving steady rain, we fear that the deficit will persist for a while. However, there are signs that the rainfall will pick up after August 8,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, with districts in the verdant Konkan belt being relentlessly buffeted by showers, dams in Ratnagiri district have filled up to 99% of their total capacity.

 

Heavy showers continued to lash Sangli and Kolhapur in the western part of the State, with several parts of Shirol tehsil in the latter district, notably Nrusinhawadi, submerged by water.

 

The relentless rain prompted the opening of three sluice gates of the Radhanagari dam in Kolhapur, long filled to its capacity of 8.36 TMC (thousand million cubic feet), leading to the Panchganaga river crossing the danger mark. The rain completely disrupted traffic between tehsils and villages along the Kolhapur-Panhala route.High alert has been sounded by district authorities to vulnerable villages in the Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara districts along the banks of the Krishna.

 

Heavy rains in Satara and Sangli districts have ensured a healthy water stock in dams in these areas. The Koyna dam in Satara has filled up to 74.89 TMC of its 105 TMC capacity, said district water resources department officials.