A one-month-old baby and family members were rescued from a flooded home in Amalner, Jalgaon district, on Friday, in an operation carried out by the local fire brigade and municipal health department.
Jalgaon district has been hit by incessant rain over the past two days, recording 104mm of rainfall, with Jalgaon city receiving 118mm, according to local reports.
Rising water levels pushed the Tapi River into flood, leading authorities to open all 41 gates of the Hatnur Dam, while the Girna Dam filled to 100% capacity and the Aner River recorded its biggest flood in two years.
A separate operation in Batsar rescued eight people from floodwaters the same day, as emergency teams remained active across the district.
The India Meteorological Department has issued an orange alert for Nashik and the Pune ghat area, with Sindhudurg, Satara, Kolhapur, Nandurbar, Wardha and Chandrapur under a yellow alert as the system continues across Maharashtra.
The state recorded an average of 51.09mm of rain over the last 24 hours and has received 104.1% of its normal rainfall for June and July this season.
IMD officials attributed the intense rain spell to a low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal, which has driven heavy rainfall across the Konkan coast, the Western Ghats and parts of Vidarbha.
Maharashtra has received 104.1% of its normal rainfall for the June-July period this year, according to IMD data, reflecting an active monsoon season across the state so far.
Jalgaon district, located in north Maharashtra along the Tapi river basin, is prone to flash flooding during heavy monsoon spells because of its low-lying agricultural terrain and dependence on dam-regulated rivers.
The Hatnur Dam and Girna Dam are among the major irrigation reservoirs on the Tapi and Girna rivers respectively, both of which serve as key water sources for agriculture across north Maharashtra.
Photo by Kumarrakajee, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
