MUMBAI: With the heaviest monsoon downpour recorded in 40 years, several districts of Maharashtra like Raigard, Ratnagiri, Pune, Kolhapur and Mumbai's neighbouring Thane district, were battered by incessant rains over the past 48 hours leaving 90 people dead, over 100 missing and thousands displaced from their homes.

Raigad district has faced the maximum brunt of the deluge with over a dozen rivers in spate, causing heavy flooding and 3 big rain-related landslides leaving over 60 people dead out of which 49 were reported from Taliye village in Mahad, 5 from Sakhar Sutarwadi and 6 from Kevnale village.

According to Raigad district collector, Nidhi Choudhari, since most of the areas are inundated the rescue teams are finding it difficult to access the affected area although officials of the local administration and police personnel are providing rescue efforts with local support.

In other landslide incidents, 3 people were reported dead in Posare and 2 in Parshuram Ghat region of Ratnagiri, 8 in Satara and one in Ranjangaon in Sindhudurg district of Konkan.

In Birwadi in Mahad in Raigad district, 30 houses were damaged and over 70 people were feared trapped under the debris. The authorities have rushed to the spot for rescue operations. Similarly, a retaining wall collapsed in Sadure Gavdhanwadi in Vaibhavwadi taluka of Sindhudurg district.

Several teams of the Navy and nearly 15 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in different districts including Palghar, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Pune, Kolhapur, and Sangli. 

Defence spokesman Commander Mehul Karnik stated that five teams of the Indian Navy will be reaching Chiplun in Ratnagiri shortly to assist the existing personnel engaged in rescue.

Most of the rivers across the Konkan belt and Western Maharashtra were flowing well above dangerous levels. The overflowing Panchganga river in Kolhapur caused heavy flooding in Sangli, Satara, and adjoining areas, while due to the overflowing of Rankala Lake in Kolhapur, parts of the Kolhapur city were submerged. 

The Khadakwasla dam (Pune) was overflowing, while the Koyana dam (Satara) received more than 80 TMC water, due to which the people residing in the vicinity were evacuated.

The Badlapur (Thane) and Karjat( Raigad district) were submerged in water since the Ulhas River breached the danger mark. The residents’ woes were augmented further when even the water supply was stopped and electricity was disconnected. According to sources, the power supply was disconnected to avoid incidents of electrocution, which also led to the disconnection of the water supply. 

Roads were washed out in over 700 villages in Bhiwandi taluka of Thane district similarly many areas of neighbouring Kalyan, including Shahad, Yogi Dham, Bhavani Nagar, Bhavani Nagar, and Anupam Nagar, were flooded due to the rise in the water level of the Waldhuni River.