The drought-prone Marathwada region of Maharashtra has been lashed with heavy rainfall since the last two days. The cities of Hingoli, Parbhani, Jalgaon, Nanded, Beed, Latur and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar are among the worst-hit affected.
As per the latest reports, the intense rainfall has taken 12 lives and lakhs of farmers are affected. The intense downpour has caused severe damage to crops and rivers including the Godavari are overflowing.
Thousands of villages in Marathwada affected
Around 1,454 villages in the Marathwada region are severely affected due to incessant rainfall from 48 hours and around 169 animals have died, reports say. The rains have also damaged lakhs of hectars of crops.
In the worst affected Hingoli district, the Army has been called to rescue stranded people. Local MLA Santosh Bangar has reached to flood-affected areas to rescue stranded people. Around 200 people gave been relocated on safer locations till now and the state authorities are rescuing villagers and animals from rainfall-affected areas in Marathwada.
Heavy rains in Parbhani district have caused the Godavari River and its tributaries, the Purna and Dudhna rivers, to flood, resulting in significant damage to agricultural lands, properties, and vehicles.
Red Alert Issued
The State Disaster Management has issued a red alert for intense rainfall in Dhule and Nandurbar till 3 pm on Tuesday. While, Madhya Maharashtra and Marathwada are expected to continue receiving extremely heavy rainfall on Tuesday, the IMD has predicted.
This monsoon, Maharashtra has witnessed above normal rainfall, with the state receiving 126% of average rainfall since June 1. Region-wise, Konkan has seen 30% above average rainfall, Madhya Maharashtra 51%, Marathwada 15%, and Vidarbha 16%.
