A dramatic rescue unfolded in Amalner, in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district, on Friday when the local fire brigade and municipal health department pulled a family, including a one-month-old baby, from a flooded home.
Jalgaon district has recorded incessant rain over the past two days, with the district logging 104mm of rainfall overall and Jalgaon city receiving 118mm, according to local reports.
The rising water levels pushed the Tapi River into flood, prompting authorities to open all 41 gates of the Hatnur Dam, while the Girna Dam reached 100% capacity and the Aner River saw its biggest flood in two years.
In a separate operation in Batsar, rescue teams pulled eight people to safety as floodwaters rose in the area, part of a broader emergency response effort across the district.
The India Meteorological Department has placed Nashik and the Pune ghat region under an orange alert, with Sindhudurg, Satara, Kolhapur, Nandurbar, Wardha and Chandrapur under a yellow alert as the wider weather system continues to move across the state.
Maharashtra recorded an average rainfall of 51.09mm over the last 24 hours, with the state having received 104.1% of its normal rainfall for June and July so far this year.
Local fire brigade teams across Jalgaon district have been on standby through the current spell, responding to multiple waterlogging and rescue calls as rivers and dams fill rapidly.
The state government has directed district administrations in flood-affected areas to keep relief camps and emergency response teams ready as the monsoon system continues to move across Maharashtra.
IMD officials attributed the intense rain spell to a low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal, which has driven heavy rainfall across the Konkan coast, the Western Ghats and parts of Vidarbha.
Maharashtra has received 104.1% of its normal rainfall for the June-July period this year, according to IMD data, reflecting an active monsoon season across the state so far.
Photo by Kumarrakajee, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
