Maharashtra reels under torrential rain as death toll reaches 13 in a single day

Heavy monsoon rain has wreaked havoc across Maharashtra, with flooding and landslides threatening several districts. Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Pune and Nashik have all been badly hit, and the state's emergency control room has reported that at least 13 people died and 10 were injured in rain-related incidents on Monday alone. Around 100 homes have been damaged, and hundreds of families have been moved to safer ground.

Record-breaking rainfall

Mumbai and its suburbs have ground to a halt under the deluge. Over the past 48 hours, the city recorded 300mm of rain, while the eastern and western suburbs saw 380mm and 345mm respectively — the highest tallies on record for the period. Waterlogged roads and homes have become widespread, and several fatal incidents involving collapsing walls and falling trees have been reported.

According to official accounts, wall collapses in Mumbai's suburbs, Pune and Thane claimed eight lives, while a falling tree killed one person in Mumbai. A particularly tragic incident occurred in the Mankhurd area, where part of a three-storey chawl — already declared unsafe — suddenly caved in, killing six people who were packing their belongings ahead of evacuation.

Schools and colleges shut, red and orange alerts issued

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued warnings of heavy to very heavy rainfall for several districts, placing coastal areas including Mumbai, Kolhapur, Satara, Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri under an orange alert, after earlier red alerts covering Mumbai, Pune and the ghat sections of Nashik. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has urged residents to remain vigilant, with forecasters warning of possible cloudburst conditions in the hilly areas of Nashik and Trimbakeshwar on Tuesday. Authorities have ordered work-from-home arrangements for government and private offices as a precaution, and all government and private schools and colleges in Mumbai have been ordered closed on Tuesday.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has mobilised its disaster management machinery round the clock, deploying special teams to tackle dilapidated buildings, short-circuits and falling trees amid winds gusting up to 70–80 km/h. The civic body has called a special meeting for 9 July to review the crisis. The Mumbai-Pune Expressway connecting link road, which was blocked by a landslide, has since been cleared and reopened to traffic.