Amalner floods: baby, family rescued as Jalgaon district battered by rain

A one-month-old baby and other family members were rescued from a flooded house in Amalner, Jalgaon district, on Friday, in an operation carried out by the local fire brigade and municipal health department.

Jalgaon district has faced continuous rain for two days, recording 104mm of rainfall, with Jalgaon city itself receiving 118mm, according to local reports.

The Tapi River went into flood as water levels surged, leading authorities to open all 41 gates of the Hatnur Dam, while the Girna Dam reached 100% capacity and the Aner River recorded its biggest flood in two years.

A separate rescue in Batsar pulled eight people from floodwaters on the same day, as emergency teams remained active across the district.

The IMD has placed Nashik and the Pune ghat region under an orange alert, with Sindhudurg, Satara, Kolhapur, Nandurbar, Wardha and Chandrapur under a yellow alert as the system moves through Maharashtra.

The state recorded an average rainfall of 51.09mm over the last 24 hours and has received 104.1% of its normal June-July rainfall so far this season.

Jalgaon district, located in north Maharashtra along the Tapi river basin, is prone to flash flooding during heavy monsoon spells because of its low-lying agricultural terrain and dependence on dam-regulated rivers.

The Hatnur Dam and Girna Dam are among the major irrigation reservoirs on the Tapi and Girna rivers respectively, both of which serve as key water sources for agriculture across north Maharashtra.

Local fire brigade teams across Jalgaon district have been on standby through the current spell, responding to multiple waterlogging and rescue calls as rivers and dams fill rapidly.

The state government has directed district administrations in flood-affected areas to keep relief camps and emergency response teams ready as the monsoon system continues to move across Maharashtra.

IMD officials attributed the intense rain spell to a low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal, which has driven heavy rainfall across the Konkan coast, the Western Ghats and parts of Vidarbha.

Photo by Kumarrakajee, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0