KOLHAPUR: Record rain in the hilly terrain of Mahabaleshwar and the catchment areas turned the usually narrow Savitri river into a torrent that washed away the British-built bridge in Mahad. At least 22 persons travelling in two state transport buses are missing after the bridge collapsed on Tuesday night.
The Savitri river that flows through Mahad originates in Mahabaleshwar, which recorded the second-highest rainfall ever on Wednesday. Mahabaleshwar recorded 410mm rain in the 24 hours till 8.30am on Wednesday. More downpour is expected in the catchment areas in next 48 hours, which would further increase the river water levels and hamper the rescue operations in Mahad.
Most of the catchment area of the Savitri and Kal rivers, which meet just ahead of the bridge in Mahad, is on the slopes of Mahabaleshwar, Shivtharghal and Dasgaon areas. Though the current flood of Savitri is not unusual, as this specific area has a history of receiving 1,000 mm rain in 24 hours, the intensity of the showers in the hilly areas such as Mahabaleshwar, Shivtharghal and Kal river catchment was enough to increase the river water levels by half a metre.
Mahabaleshwar, one of the famous tourist destination in the country, received 410 mm rain in the 24 hours till 8.30am on Wednesday. On 2 August 2008, the hill station had recorded 490.7mm rain, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The conditions in Mahad taluka were not much different, which received 222mm rain in the same period.
The heavy showers in Mahabaleshwar, besides the rain in the catchment areas of the river along the Mahabaleshwar to Mahad route flooded the river, experts said. Deepak Modak, retired chief engineer of water resources department, said the flood is dependent on the rainfall in both the Mahabaleshwar and Mahad areas.
"The rainfall in the upstream areas causes flooding of the Savitri. I don't see any unusual raining or rare flood this time yet. The water levels were rising last night. At Mahad town, where we measure the level, it was 6.5 metre last night, which increased to 7.10m on Wednesday morning. This area has witnessed 1,000 mm rain in July 1989," said S S Waghmare, superintendent engineer of Thane irrigation circle.
In the meantime, the met department has issued alert of heavy to very heavy rainfall alert in Mahabaleshwar for the next 48 hours. The annual rainfall average for Mahabaleshwar is 6,222 mm and the town has already recorded 3,224 mm rain this season.
"We have issued an alert to the people living near the riverside to remain careful. We are also consulting with National Disaster Response Force and will call the team in case of any emergency," Satara collector Ashwin Mudgal said.
In Satara district, except Veer dam, which is discharging water at the rate of 12,000 cusecs into Neera river, all other dams are yet to reach 80% of their storage. The discharge from Veer will be increased to 18,000 cusecs. However, there are not fears of floods just yet.
Western areas such as Mahabaleshwar, Javali, Wai, Patan, Satara and Karad received incessant raining in last 24 hours. Overflowing Venna lake in Mahabaleshwar caused traffic problem on Panchgani-Mahabaleshwar road. Moevoer, landslide on Mahabaleshwar-Poladpur road disrupted the traffic for four hours.
(With inputs from Atul Deshpande, Satara)
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