Rains clobber Maharashtra for 5th day running, toll rises to 87

Mumbai, July 12, 2022

Heavy rains lashed large parts of Maharashtra on Tuesday for the fifth consecutive day, playing havoc with routine life while the state's death toll in rain-related incidents in the current monsoon season touched 87 with 66 others injured, officials said.

The worst-hit district in terms of deaths are: Nashik with 12 fatalities, followed by Nagpur with nine, Thane with five, Palghar, Jalgaon, Nanded, Amravati, Wardha, and Gadchiroli with four each, Mumbai, Ahmednagar, Jalna, Latur, Buldhana, and Yavatmal with three each, Sindhudurg, Nandurbar, Dhule, Washim, Bhandara, and Gondiya with two each, and one each in Ratnagiri, Pune, Satara, Beed, and Akola.

Though ravaged by torrential rains, too, districts like Raigad, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Osmanabad, Parbhani, Hingoli, and Chandrapur have been spared of any casualties so far.

Owing to a severe rains and flood situation in Gadchiroli and surroundings, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis air-dashed to the district on Monday evening for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation and to guide the rescue and relief operations there.

In the past 24 hours, certain districts were pounded by extremely heavy rains, like Palghar, which recorded 109.9 mm rains, Thane 106.3 mm, Raigad 96.8 mm, Nashik 94.6 mm, said the State Disaster Management Authority.

The state received an average of 29.00 mm rains in 24 hours though the actual rainfall in many areas of Konkan and parts of Vidarbha, north and Western Maharashtra was much higher. Mumbai notched 32.8 mm while the city's suburbs received 62 mm rain.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for Palghar, Nashik, and Pune till Thursday, and for Raigad till Wednesday, an orange alert for Thane, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Kolhapur, and Satara till Friday, for Mumbai till Thursday, besides certain other districts.

A total of 13 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 4 State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams have been deployed in Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, Palghar, Ratnagiri, Kolhapur, Satara, Sindhudurg, Nanded, Gadchiroli, and Nashik, while seven teams are based in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, and Dhule, to tackle any eventuality from the incessant downpour.

IANS