Overnight rain claims 12 lives in Maharashtra

Mumbai: Torrential rain lashed large parts of Maharashtra and Mumbai on Saturday claiming at least 12 lives, even as the monsoon progressed normally over the state and the weather department forecast heavy rain over the next 48 hours.

Providing succour from the blistering heat, many areas of the state including coastal Konkan, Mumbai, northern, western and eastern Maharashtra were lashed by a downpour accompanied with thunder and lightning till almost daybreak since 1 a.m.

Low-lying areas in some cities experienced water-logging as gutters and storm water drains were flooded in a short time and water gushed out onto the streets.

At least 12 persons have lost their lives in different parts of the state since midnight in what is described as pre-monsoon rain.

Four people were killed and eight injured in Gadchiroli, three died in Nanded, two in Latur and one in Nashik when they were struck by lightning in the early hours on Saturday.

A boy, 10, was washed away when he was on his way to school and was trying to cross a small bridge over a heavily flooded drain Nevasa, Ahmednagar.

An IT engineer Yogesh Kurle was electrocuted when he accidentally touched a live wire near Murbad in Thane district, while another person was seriously injured.

The IMD Mumbai has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall over the Konkan belt, north and south central Maharashtra, with heavy rain in Marathwada and central Maharashtra.

Since last night, the highest rainfall of nine cms was recorded in Palghar, in north Konkan followed by eight cms in Sindhudurg`s Malvan, with Mumbai recording an average of 3.59 cms rain in the past 24 hours.