Emergency teams are looking for this Saturday (24) among the mud and debris of possible survivors of landslides and floods that have killed at least 125 people in the western region of India, affected by the monsoon rains .
More than half of the deaths took place in Raigad, south of Mumbai, in the state of Maharashtra. The site has been affected by the heaviest rains in July for four decades, experts say. Floods and landslides are common in India during the monsoon season, which runs from June to September.
India’s meteorological department has put several parts of the state on red alert and said rains are expected to continue for the next few days, in a downpour that affects the lives of hundreds of thousands and leaves rivers and dams with deposits accumulated at risk of overflowing.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was devastated by the loss of his life.
“About 90,000 people have been rescued from flood-affected areas,” the government of Maharashtra said in a statement as authorities released water from overflowing dams.
Parts of India’s west coast received as much as 594mm of rain, forcing authorities to evacuate people from vulnerable areas as they released water from overflowing dams.
Mahabaleshwar hill station recorded the highest rainfall ever – 60cm in 24 hours.
The rains also caused flooding at a water treatment center, disrupting distribution in most areas of Mumbai, officials in the city of 20 million people said.
Bad weather has hit many parts of the world in recent weeks, with flooding in China and Western Europe and heatwaves in North America, sparking new fears about the impact of climate change.