At least 16 people have died in rain-related incidents in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region in 10 days, while at least 4,500 houses have been damaged due to heavy rains.
Officials told on Sunday that 54,000 hectares of agricultural land has also been affected by the torrential rains, of which 53,000 hectares of agricultural land is in Amravati division. 2,796 people have been shifted to safer places.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said that the state government is fully prepared to deal with the problems caused by heavy rains.
According to the preliminary report released by the authorities, 11 people have died in Nagpur division since July 13 in flood and lightning incidents.
Three people each died in Gadchiroli and Bhandara, two each in Wardha and Gondia and one person died in Chandrapur.
On July 21, four people died in Amravati division in a single day, including the death of three people in Yavatmal. One person each died in Akola and Buldhana.
The 11 districts of Vidarbha are divided into two divisions – Amravati and Nagpur. Nagpur division includes Nagpur, Gondia, Bhandara, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli and Wardha districts, while Amravati division includes Amravati, Akola, Yavatmal, Washim and Buldhana.
It has been raining heavily in many parts of Vidarbha for the last few days.
According to the Nagpur-based Regional Meteorological Centre, Akola received 107.9 millimeters (mm) of rain in the 24-hour period that ended at 8.30 am on Sunday. Whereas, Yavatmal received 24 mm of rain, Wardha 23.4, Amravati 15.6, Nagpur 6.7, Gadchiroli 3.0, Gondia 2.2, Brahmpuri (Chandrapur) 2.4 and Buldhana 2.0 mm.
