Monsoon floods, landslides kill more than 100
NEW DELHI — Landslides and flooding triggered by heavy monsoon rains hit parts of western India, killing more than 100 people, officials said Friday. More than 1,000 people trapped by floodwaters were rescued.
The dead included 54 killed in four landslides in the Raigad and Ratnagiri districts in western Maharashtra state on Thursday and Friday, according to District Collector Nidhi Chaudhary and state government official Sagar Pathak.
Many of those who were rescued were stranded on rooftops and even on top of buses on highways, Chaudhary said.
Pathak said more than 30 people were missing after the landslides.
Chaudhary said the rain had slowed, but water levels were rising again because of a high tide Friday. Rescuers, however, have reached the worsthit areas.
Twentyseven people were killed by houses collapsing or being swept away by rushing floodwaters in Satara district, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. It also said more than 20 deaths have been reported from the eastern districts of Gondia and Chandrapur.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was anguished by the loss of lives.
“The situation in Maharashtra due to heavy rains is being closely monitored and assistance is being provided to the affected,” Modi tweeted.
The army, navy, coast guard and the National Disaster Response Force were helping in rescue operations, the defense ministry said.
An Indian navy statement said it deployed helicopters to evacuate stranded people and sent rescue teams with boats to the region.
Authorities on Friday sounded an alert in the southern state of Telangana with heavy rains causing flooding in Hyderabad, the state capital, and other lowlying areas.
Meteorologists said 11.8 inches of rain that has fallen so far this month in Hyderabad, one of India’s information technology hubs, is the most in July in 10 years.
Last weekend, more than 30 people were killed in landslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains in and around Mumbai, India’s financial and entertainment capital.
Disasters caused by landslides and flooding are common in India during the JuneSeptember monsoon season, when heavy rains weaken the foundations of structures that are often poorly built.
The monsoon is crucial for rainfed crops planted during the season, but the rains often cause extensive damage and kill scores of people each year.