Maharashtra: More rain in store for four districts of Marathwada

AURANGABAD: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday issued the yellow alert for half of the districts, including Nanded, Parbhani, Hingoli and Latur, in the rain-battered Marathwada region.
The IMD stated that the districts were very likely to get heavy rain at some places along with thunderstorms, lightning or gusty winds. More rain is also in store for Aurangabad and the remaining three districts of the region, Jalna, Beed and Osmanabad, with the forecast of light to moderate showers amid thunderstorms.
While widespread rainfall involving spells of light to moderate showers with heavy rain at isolated places is already on in Marathwada for the last three days, the official forecast of extreme weather conditions for the next few days may cause a flood-like situation in the region.
Marathwada, comprising eight districts, has received 14 mm rain in the past 24 hours, which ended by Thursday morning, with two circles from Jalan and one circle each from Beed and Jalna recording heavy showers of more than 65 mm. The region has received 874 mm rainfall since June 1, which is 136% of the expected showers.
As per the latest official estimates, crops over 15.38 lakh hectare area from different parts of the region have already been damaged with panchanamas of more than 32% of the affected areas is yet to be over.
The region has also witnessed over 30 rain-related deaths during the current monsoon with alerts being sounded by the respective district administration for people living on banks of Godavari river and its tributaries in the wake of possible heavy rainfall.
Divisional disaster management coordinator Narendra Kulkarni said the latest rain-related alert has been shared with all district administrations from Marathwada. “The respective disaster management authorities have been asked to be prepared to deal with any eventuality arising out of heavy rain,” he said.