Mumbai: Rains continue to ravage most of south India, with Maharashtra being the worst hit in terms of loss of lives and infrastructure. The death toll in various rain-related incidents, like floods and landslides, in Maharashtra rose to 149 on Sunday with 36 more bodies being found in Satara and Raigad districts as rescue operations gathered pace. At least 64 people remain missing, the state government said. So far, 50 people have been injured in these incidents, it said in a statement. A total of 2,29,074 people have been evacuated from the affected districts in the Konkan region and western Maharashtra, to safer places.
A statement from the state secretariat control room said 28 more deaths were reported from the Satara district in western Maharashtra and 8 from the Raigad district in the coastal region. The government said 60 deaths were so far reported in Raigad, 21 in Ratnagiri, 41 in Satara, 12 in Thane, seven in Kolhapur, four in suburban Mumbai, and two each in Sindhudurg and Pune. A total of 875 villages in Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara and Pune were affected by the torrential rains, it said. “Five relief camps have been set up in flood-hit Chiplun city in Ratnagiri district. 25 teams of the NDRF, four teams of the SDRF, two teams of the Coast Guard, five teams of the Navy and three teams of the Army are conducting the relief and rescue operations,” the statement said.
CM Thackeray visits Chiplun, to tour western Maharashtra today
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray visited Chiplun, the site of severe flooding, and interacted with residents, businessmen and shopkeepers. He promised them all help from the state government to restore normalcy in the area. Thackeray said they will require “central assistance for long-term mitigation measures”, and added that he will tour western Maharashtra on Monday and comprehensive data of the extent of damages will be prepared.
Various parts of country likely to get heavy rainfall on Monday
Heavy to very heavy rainfall is very likely at isolated places over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, east Rajasthan, west Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Meghalaya on Monday, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD). It has also predicted heavy rainfall at isolated places over Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Gujarat, central Maharashtra, Konkan, Goa, coastal Karnataka, Kerala and Mahe for Monday.
Thunderstorm, accompanied with lightning, is very likely at isolated places over Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Karaikal, the IMD said in a release.
IMD issues warnings for different states
Warning of an increase in rainfall activity over Western Himalayan Region and adjoining plains of northwest India from Monday, the IMD said that fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy falls is likely over Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh during July 26 and 29, over Uttarakhand during July 25 and 29 and over Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan & Muzaffarabad, Punjab, and Haryana from July 27 till 29.
Enhanced rainfall activity with fairly widespread to widespread rainfall and isolated heavy to very heavy falls likely over Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Bihar from July 27, it said. For IMD, heavy rainfall is between 64.5 mm to 115.5 mm, very heavy rain 115.6 mm to 204.4 mm, and extremely heavy rainfall above 204.4 mm.