Monsoon rains in India have caused devastating floods and landslides, killing over 125 people. The western state of Maharashtra has taken the brunt of the damage, with the highest July rainfall in four decades.
India has joined the list of countries facing severe weather changes. Officials reported Saturday that the heavy rains killed at least 125 people since they triggered floods and landslides in western India. The death toll was over three times higher than the 36 recorded on Friday.
Rescue efforts were underway, with crews battling through muck and debris to reach houses flooded in the rain.
“Rainfall in various parts of the state often coinciding with high tides and also discharge from dams led to various regions… getting inundated,” the Maharashtra state government said in a press release.
Hundreds of individuals were reported missing near Mumbai, India’s financial capital after heavy rains lasted several days. Goa, a coastal state, has seen the worst floods in decades as well.
Rescue Operations
Four more bodies were discovered in Taliye, southeast of Mumbai after landslides destroyed most of the village’s houses. The state’s chief minister is scheduled to visit Taliye on Saturday, following the murder of 42 people in the town.
“About 40 people are still trapped. The possibility of rescuing them alive is thin as they’ve been trapped in mud for over 36 hours,” a senior state official stated.
Rescue teams were looking for victims in four additional locations in Maharashtra following large-scale landslides.
“Around 90,000 people were rescued from flood-affected areas,” the state administration said in a statement, as officials were forced to discharge water from overflowing dams.
Concerns about Climate Change
While flooding and landslides are common during the monsoon rains in India, extreme weather has recently hit many world regions. Heat waves have affected areas of North America, while large-scale flooding has occurred in China and Western Europe, including Germany.
Europe has recorded flash floods produced by two months’ worth of rain in two days, causing severe damage and killing at least 209 people in Germany and Belgium. Narrow valley streams surged into catastrophic floods in hours, destroying centuries-old settlements. The cost of rebuilding the destroyed houses, companies, and infrastructure is anticipated to be billions of euros.
According to research published in April by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), climate change is making India’s monsoons stronger.
“Since Indian society is overall affected by the monsoon, stronger variability produces problems for agriculture, but also for the organization of public life,” Anders Levermann from PIK and Columbia University said.
Environmentalists in India have also warned that climate change and indiscriminate exploitation of vulnerable coastal regions may lead to further disasters in the area.
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