Nagpur witnessed wrath of nature since Saturday morning as the city received intense rainfall leaving many wondering if it was a cloudburst. Torrential rains for over 6 hours led to flooding in many low-lying areas, especially those along Pohra, Nag and Pili rivers were the most affected. The civic administration swung into action as the situation was getting from bad to worse every passing hour. The civic teams saved more than 125 affected people from different areas by late afternoon. On Saturday, Nagpur received non-stop rains since 5.30 am. During the six hours intense fury, the city recorded 217.7 mm rainfall whereas from 5.30 am to 5.30 pm on Saturday, the city received 222.3 mm rainfall. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), the highest rainfall in 24 hours till date in Nagpur was 304 mm which was reported on July 12, 1994. Similarly, Saturday’s rainfall in last 24 hours was second to 282 mm recorded on July 7, 2018. The latest rainfall exposed tall claims made by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) about monsoon preparedness as numerous areas witnessed incidents of water-logging, uprooting of trees and traffic-jams due to flooding of roads and underpasses. The newly constructed cement roads in different parts of the city caused water-logging on not only roads and low- lying areas but in residential colonies too.

 

 

 

With cement roads being constructed over the earlier road levels, rainwater entered in houses in many areas including Manewada, Shrihari Nagar, Omkar Nagar, Shyam Nagar, Wathoda, Kharbi, Hudkeshwar, Pipla Road, Chakrapani Nagar, Uday Nagar, New Amar Nagar, Chhatrapati Nagar, Padole Square, Ujjwal Nagar, Kushi Nagar, Hudco Colony, Sujata Nagar, Manish Nagar, Besa, Ghogali, Manewada-Besa Road, Shankar Nagar, Bajaj Nagar, Daga Layout, Vyankatesh Nagar, Nandanvan Colony, Shanti Nagar, Vaishali Nagar and other areas. At some places, houses were damaged due to entry of rainwater. NMC received complaints of uprooting of trees from many localities. As Naag river started overflowing, areas along the river were alerted. Rain water got accumulated in settlements including Wathoda and Kharbi areas in East Nagpur. Roads around Symbiosis University also were flooded. Due to rainwater entering in large quantity in Kharbi area slums, life came to a standstill. The road from Chhatrapati Square to Padole Square was closed for traffic due to water-logging. Similarly, Narendra Nagar Railway Under Bridge (RuB) which is infamous for water-logging during monsoon every year, has once again been clogged since Saturday morning. Due to water-logging in the RUB, the office-goers faced tremendous jam as the traffic was diverted towards Narendra Nagar fly-over. Ujjwal Nagar underpass and Airport entry road also were closed due to water-logging. Similar was the situation at Padole Square which was completely under water caused trouble for the nearby residents, shops and petrol pumps for hours. The fire and emergency services of NMC came in action swiftly and rescued many residents and people from different parts of the city.

 

The rescue operation which was started in the morning, continued till late evening. Till the filing of the report, the Fire Department had received more than 71 distress calls from various parts of the city including Manish Nagar, Besa, Manewada, Nandanvan, Wathoda, Narendra Nagar, Hudkeshwar, Pipla etc. The fire teams removed rain water with the help of pumps that entered the houses at various places. Many two-wheelers and cars were also submerged at different parts of the city causing huge losses to the owners of the vehicle. Due to heavy rains, power supply was also disrupted in many areas in Nagpur. Pratap Nagar area in South West Nagpur experienced several power outages between 2 pm and 5 am. As the 33 KV Beltarodi sub station went under water, the power supply in Besa and the surrounding area was disrupted for some time. Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) received many complaints about the interruption of power supply. Similarly, the tracks at Nagpur Railway Station were also submerged and water logging at the station caused much inconvenience to passengers. Despite water logging on tracks, no delay took place in the movement of trains from Nagpur railway station.