Maharashtra landslides and floods kill 129 in the last 48 hours: 84,452 people under the Pune division have been shifted to safer places

84,452 people under the Pune division have been shifted to safer places as heavy showers continued to wreak havoc in the state

The site of the landslide at a village in Satara on Friday.: PTI

PTI   |   Mumbai   |   24.07.21: As many as 129 people have died in rain-related incidents, including landslides, in Maharashtra in the last 48 hours, while 84,452 people under the Pune division have been shifted to safer places as heavy showers continued to wreak havoc in the state.

At least 38 people were killed at Talai in Mahad tehsil of coastal Raigad district, 180km southeast of Mumbai, when a landslide flattened most of the small village, said minister Vijay Wadettiwar.

Raigad district collector Nidhi Choudhary said the landslide struck on Thursday evening.

“But since the roads leading to the spot were blocked due to the floods and the sludge, the rescue teams found it difficult to reach the site,” she said.

“The operation resumed today (Friday) morning and the bodies were recovered by afternoon,” she added.

In Mumbai, four persons were killed and seven suffered injuries after a single-storey house collapsed in Shivaji Nagar area of Govandi early on Friday, a civic official said.

“Seven fire engines, one rescue van of the fire brigade and personnel of the police as well as other agencies reached the spot and launched a search and rescue operation,” the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said.

Two of those injured — Neha Parvez Shaikh, 35, and Mokar Zabir Shaikh, 80 — were declared brought dead at Rajawadi Hospital. Shamshad Shaikh, 45, who was admitted to the hospital in a critical condition, died during treatment.

“A 22-year-old man, identified as Farin Shaikh, was pulled out from under the rubble and was taken to Rajawadi Hospital, where doctors declared him dead before admission,” the BMC official said.

A fire brigade official said 15 people had been pulled out of the debris so far and the operation was still under way.

Several people were swept away in floodwaters. The official of the state disaster management department put the death toll in various incidents in western Maharashtra’s Satara district at 27.

Earlier, the district police had said 20 people were feared trapped after landslides hit eight houses in Ambeghar and Mirgaon villages in Satara’s Patan tehsil.

“Two persons died in Jawali tehsil while another two died in Wai tehsil in landslides and other incidents. A woman and a man died in separate incidents of landslide and flash floods in Patan tehsil,” the official said.

“Four persons were swept away by floodwaters in Jawali tehsil, of whom two were found dead. The remaining two are missing. One person from Mahabaleshwar is also missing,” he said.

In Ratnagiri district, at least 10 people are feared trapped in a landslide, a senior official said on Friday.

The body of a man was recovered in Chiplun city after floodwaters receded.

Mahabaleshwar, one of Maharashtra’s most well-patronised hill stations, has received 594.4 millimetres of rainfall in a 24-hour period ending at 8:30am on Friday, which an IMD official said could be the highest ever recorded there.