The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rescued 49 people from a water-logged resort in Maharashtra's Thane and 16 villagers in Palghar amid heavy rains on Sunday, officials said.A team from the NDRF used boats and life jackets to rescue people stranded at the resort due to flooding in the Shahpur area, an official said. Similarly, 16 villagers were rescued by the NDRF and firefighters in Palghar district in the afternoon, a district official said.
A group of villagers from Chalispada of Saiwan in Vasai, who were working at their farms, got stranded when the area got flooded after water levels rose in the nearby Tansa dam, said Vivekanand Kadam, chief of the district disaster management cell. The catchment area received heavy rains in the morning, he said.The NDRF and local firefighters were mobilised around 12.30 pm, and the villagers, eight of them women, were brought to safety in two hours, he said.As part of the monsoon preparedness, NDRF teams are deployed in parts of Mumbai, Thane and Palghar districts, an NDRF official said. There are 13 teams with 32 to 35 personnel each in different parts of the state, including Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur.Five teams are at the NDRF head office in Pune, he added.
The recent downpours in Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) have caused a notable surge in water levels across the city's seven lakes, marking the largest single-day increase this season. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) reported 24 mm of rainfall at Santacruz and 61 mm at Colaba by Sunday morning, with continuous rain expected until July 10.While Mumbai itself has not been placed under a severe weather warning, Ratnagiri district remains on yellow alert after receiving 146 mm of rainfall. The IMD forecasts ongoing light to moderate rains across Mumbai and several districts including Thane, Raigad, Sindhudurg, and Ratnagiri until next Wednesday.