40-Year Record For Maharashtra Rain, At Least 36 Dead

Incessant rain over the last 24 hours has led to devastating floods in parts of Maharashtra, with three districts flooded and two districts facing a flood-like situation. This is the heaviest spell of rain in the state in July in 40 years. The Navy has been roped in for rescue and evacuation.

Several teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel too have been deployed for rescue operations in the Konkan region. While Ratnagiri, Raigad, Kolhapur districts are flooded, Sangli and Amravati are facing a flood-like situation. Thirty-six people have died in landslide in Raigad district.

More than 50 per cent area of the coastal town of Chiplun in Ratnagiri, around 250 km from Mumbai and having a population of over 70,000, has got submerged in flood waters, news agency PTI reported.

The Navy, the NDRF and other rescue teams are helping people get to safer places.

A terrifying video from Chiplun shows a few people trying to pull up a woman from a flooded area using what appears to be a rope. The woman clings on to the rope as she is pulled up, but just as she nears the terrace of the building, the rescuers lose grip and she falls into the water.

Mumbai, neighbouring Thane and Palghar and other districts in the Konkan region have been witnessing heavy downpour since the last few days. This morning, seven people died and three were injured after a building collapsed in Mumbai's Govandi area.

Maharashtra is expected to receive heavy rain for the next few days.

The Mumbai-Goa Highway has been closed for traffic due to severe flooding in the region.

The Met department has issued red and orange alerts for several regions in Maharashtra that are set to receive heavy rainfall in the next few days.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday held an emergency meeting to take stock of the situation and asked disaster Management units and other departments responsible to stay vigilant and start rescue operations immediately.

(With inputs from Agencies)