Parts of Marathwada, especially Latur and Beed districts, which were facing acute water scarcity till recently, are now dealing with excess rainfall that has thrown life out of gear at many places.
At the Manjara river dam at Dhanegaon, authorities have opened six gates to cope with heavy rainfall, which has dramatically raised water levels in the dam.
The dam supplies water to Latur and till last month had registered almost zero water levels. However, the incessant rainfall during the past few days has more than made up for the lack of rains till now.
The retreating monsoon has claimed nine lives in Marathwada region of Maharashtra with five killed in flash floods, officials said today.
While four persons from Jalna and Nanded districts of the region died after they were struck by lightning, the other five from Beed and Latur districts drowned in flash floods yesterday following heavy rains, officials from Marathwada Divisional Commissionerate said. The victims are yet to be identified.
Some areas in Beed district recorded more than 100 mm rainfall on Sunday in less than 12 hours disrupting normal life.
Also, as most of the rivers including Bindusara and Manjara have shallow beds, water is overflowing resulting in crop loss over 5-7 lakh hectares in the region. Besides, flooding has led to uprooting of crops, which has come as an irreparable loss to farmers.
The IMD had predicted more rains in Maharashtra in the first week of October with low pressure formation over the Telengana region.
(With inputs from PTI)
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