Rain fury in Nagpur: Fadnavis visits affected areas, says ‘could have minimised the damage if…’

Maharashtra deputy CM visits flood-affected Nagpur, announces compensation for affected families.

Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday visited the flood-affected areas in Nagpur as the heavy rainfall brought life to a standstill and claimed four lives in rain-related incidents. Fadnavis visited homes to interact with flood-affected families in the vicinity of Ambazari Lake, the city’s largest waterbody, which breached its boundaries on Saturday due to heavy rains.

The National Disaster Response Force and its state counterpart SDRF are undertaking rescue and relief operations across Nagpur, he informed.

“As many as 10,000 homes have been affected. Mud has entered houses. The administration is providing medicines and help in cleaning up flood-affected areas. The level of damage is serious. The amount of rainfall was higher than carrying capacity of the area,” the deputy chief minister told reporters.

“We could have minimised the damage if some measures were taken earlier. The IMD had given an orange alert but it could not predict this much rain would fall in such a short time. There is always something to learn from such disasters,” he said.

Late Saturday night, Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who is the local MP, chaired a meeting to review the situation. Fadnavis announced a compensation of ₹10,000 for flood-affected families and those whose small roadside establishments were damaged in heavy rains in Nagpur and up to ₹5 lakh for bigger shops. He told reporters that flood water entered as many as 10,000 houses.

The continuous rainfall overwhelmed the city’s drainage systems, quickly turning streets into fast-flowing rivers. The situation escalated rapidly, as water levels surged, submerging low-lying areas, and leaving residents stranded in their homes.

Visuals from the affected areas showed water gushing into homes and residential areas on Saturday and roads looked like rivers after the city received about 90 mm of rain between 2am and 4am. An elderly woman lost her life due to the downpour. Transportation systems came to a grinding halt, businesses were forced to close their doors and schools and colleges were shut as the city coped with the flood-like situation.