At least 11 dead, thousands evacuated as flash floods hit Western India
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Damaged vehicles strewn along streets after heavy rains in Pune, India, on Sept 26, 2019.
PHOTO: REUTERS
MUMBAI (AFP/REUTERS) - Seventeen people were killed Thursday (Sept 26) in flooding caused by torrential rains in western India including five who were sleeping in a mosque, officials said.
Twelve people including a nine-year-old boy were killed in flash floods, and as walls collapsed in various parts of Pune district in Maharashtra state, police said.
The mosque was washed away in a rural part of the state, police official Sandip Patil told AFP.
"We have recovered five bodies and are still looking for two missing people. Rescue operations are ongoing," he said.
The state's chief minister Devendra Fadnavis tweeted his condolences and said 15,000 people had been evacuated in the city of Baramati.
Twelve people including a nine-year-old boy were killed in flash floods, and as walls collapsed in various parts of Pune district in Maharashtra state, police said.
The mosque was washed away in a rural part of the state, police official Sandip Patil told AFP.
"We have recovered five bodies and are still looking for two missing people. Rescue operations are ongoing," he said.
The state's chief minister Devendra Fadnavis tweeted his condolences and said 15,000 people had been evacuated in the city of Baramati.
More than 28,000 people have been evacuated from low-lying areas and the local administration is on alert for more rain, Mr Deepak Mhaisekar, a government official, told Reuters.
Pune, which is around 200km east of India's financial hub of Mumbai, has received 113 per cent more rainfall than average since the start of the monsoon season in early June, a weather department official said.
South Asia gets monsoon rain annually during the June-September months, which cause fatalities and mass displacement.
India's monsoons, which deliver more than 70 per cent of the country's annual rainfall, are crucial for farm output and economic growth, but rainfall often weakens the foundations of poorly built walls and buildings, resulting in deaths.
