Heavy rainfall has caused widespread flooding and disruption across Maharashtra, with the worst-hit areas being the Marathwada region, particularly Beed district. In response to the crisis, the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Indian Army have been deployed to conduct rescue operations.
Rescue and Relief Efforts
In Beed’s Ashti taluka, an IAF helicopter airlifted 11 members of a family who were stranded in the flooded Sheri Khurd hamlet. Concurrently, an Army unit, with the support of an NDRF team, successfully evacuated 40 more people from the area.
The rain has taken a heavy toll, with four deaths reported in the Marathwada region since Sunday. Eight villages in Beed were cut off from the district headquarters, prompting officials to close schools for classes 1 to 7 on Tuesday.
Widespread Impact and Forecast
The downpour has also significantly affected major urban centers. In Mumbai, heavy rains caused waterlogging in low-lying areas, slowing down traffic and local train services. The city’s Colaba observatory recorded 134.4 mm of rain in a 24-hour period. Similarly, Pune was hit by heavy rains, leading to the evacuation of 70 people from Theur village.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an ‘orange alert’ for several districts, including Palghar, Pune, Ahilyanagar, and Beed, forecasting heavy to very heavy rainfall. However, the IMD predicts the rainfall to subside across most of the state from Wednesday onwards.
The intense rainfall has had one positive outcome: water storage in the eleven major irrigation projects in the Marathwada region has increased to 94.36%.