Monsoon Mayhem: Rain pounds Maharashtra, 160 dead

Incessant rain over the weekend has brought Maharashtra to a standstill, claiming 160 lives even as 10,000 people have been evacuated to safer areas.

Though the intensity of showers has weakened and floodwaters have receded from low–lying areas of Mumbai, India's financial hub, Monday, the meteorological department has forecast intermittent rain and thundershowers with strong gusty winds for the city in the coming week.

The torrential rain, besides submerging major parts of Mumbai and other regions in Maharashtra under 10 feet of water, also battered several parts of Gujarat, claiming six lives, and Madhya Pradesh, throwing normal life out of gear.

In Maharashtra, rains destroyed over 2,000 mud–built houses across 96 villages of the Amravati district and people residing there had been evacuated to temporary shelters, the police said.

Since the onset of monsoon, 160 people had been killed in the state due to rains, they added.

Around 40 people, who were marooned in a building due to heavy flooding in Daryapur town of Amravati district, have been evacuated by sending boats, Relief and Rehabilitation Secretary Ramesh Kumar said.

"Pune and the Konkan divisions were the worst affected along with some pockets in Vidarbha. Districts in Pune division received over 200 percent of annual rainfall in the last two days," Kumar said, adding that Thane, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Ratnagiri were also badly affected.

Army units have been brought in to help the local authorities in evacuating and providing relief to the flood–affected, he said.

"Mahad, Mhasla, Bhoighat and Poladpur faced heavy rains. Mahad and Bhoighat had about 10 feet of water. Nearly 700 people were shifted in Mahad," Raigad district collector Seema Vyas said.

On Monday, floodwaters receded from the low–lying areas of Mumbai and all transport services in the metropolis were restored as the intensity of rains declined.

During the weekend, the city came to a virtual standstill as road, rail and air networks were cut off and several regions reported power outages.

This year's monsoon has brought back memories of 2005, when a weeklong downpour killed hundreds of people and brought Mumbai to a complete halt, exposing the inadequacies of its drainage system and other civic infrastructure.

In Mumbai, quipped one angry citizen, everything goes down the drain except water.

However, the civic authorities have expressed helplessness, blaming the concentrated spells of rain for the breakdown of services. "When there is so much continuous rainfall, the water takes time to recede," said BMC commissioner Jairaj Phatak, adding that the city's storm water drains can only cope with 40 mm of rain per hour whereas in most areas, rainfall was recorded at over 100 mm.

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, now in the US, has asked relief agencies to concentrate on providing medical aid to rain–hit people immediately.

Maharashtra Governor S.M. Krishna has appealed to the people to keep up the legendary and indomitable "Mumbaikar" spirit even as he announced that the government is committed to giving Rs. 1 lakh as compensation to families whose members perished in the rains.

Rains have also affected other cities in Mahatrashtra, Central India and Andhra Pradesh.

In Raipur, 14 hours of continuous rains due to a depression in the Bay of Bengal has hit the city hard.