Maharashtra Rains: 112 Dead, 99 Missing; NDRF Continues Extensive Search In Affected Areas

Sangli: At least 112 people lost their lives in rain-related incidents while 99 were still missing in Maharashtra till Saturday night, the Relief and Rehabilitation Department said as quoted by news agency ANI.

According to the state government’s data, about 1 lakh 35 thousand people have been evacuated from the flood-affected areas.

“As per the data of July 24 at 9.30 pm, about 1 lakh 35 thousand people have been evacuated from the flood-affected areas. A total of 112 deaths have been reported and 3221 animals have died. A total of 53 people were injured and 99 are missing,” said Relief and Rehabilitation Department.

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Floodwater entered roads and fields, inundating several areas of the Sangli district in Maharashtra. Locals are keeping constant vigil and alerting the passersby of rising water levels.

“Situation is not okay. Water is receding towards Samdoli now. Many cars are also stuck here,” Sumit, a local said. Another villager Pramod, who was among the locals keeping a watch to check the water level, said, “We are sitting here to ensure that floodwater doesn’t enter Samdoli. If water goes beyond here, our daily route will be shut.”

Meanwhile, people of neighboring villages have sought temporary rehabilitation at Samdoli village following floods in several areas of the Sangli district.

Sarpanch of Samdoli, Vaibhav informed, “About 60-70 people have been shifted here. Floods have ravaged their houses, we are arranging whatever possible from our end.”

Earlier in the day, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in a statement informed that an extensive search is on for missing persons in Maharashtra’s Raigad, Ratnagiri and Satara districts.

NDRF stated that its 26 teams are engaged in relief and rescue operations in Mumbai, Thane, Ratnagiri, Palghar, Raigad, Sahara, Sangli, Sindhudurg Nagar and Kolhapur in coordination with the state administration.

Additional eight teams are being airlifted to Maharashtra: four each from Kolkata and Vadodara. Besides this, a landslide caused by heavy rains in Raigad district led to the death of at least 36 persons.

An NDRF team is involved in the rescue efforts at the site of the incident and efforts are being made to airlift another team from Kurla.

The team was unable to land on Friday due to bad weather conditions. Meanwhile, NDRF is constantly tracking the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) weather forecast and Central Water Commission’s report and taking actions accordingly, the statement informed.

(With Agency Inputs)