This archive report was first published on 26 July 2021.
Heavy monsoon rains in western India have left a trail of destruction, claiming 159 lives and displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
According to experts, climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of the annual deluge, which is critical to replenishing rivers and groundwater but also causes widespread death and destruction.
As of July 26, 2021, a quarter of a million people had been evacuated from their homes in three states, with power cut across vast areas.
Rescuers waded through waist-deep mud to reach injured residents and start a massive clean-up operation, with a focus on evacuating the injured and restoring electricity as water levels recede.
“The rainfall has stopped in most places and water levels have receded. We are helping with clean-up, relief and restoration,” said a National Disaster Relief Force spokesperson.
Search operations were halted in the hillside village of Taliye, southeast of Mumbai, where 53 bodies had been recovered and 17 people were still missing after a large landslide washed away people and homes on Thursday.
Neighbouring state Goa’s Chief Minister Pramod Sawant described the floods as the worst since 1982, while Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray called the disaster “unimaginable”.
Further south in Karnataka state, nine people died in flooding and four others were missing, officials said.
A shopkeeper in the affected district described the water level reaching the ceiling of his shop, while another resident said the floods were worse than those in 1965 and 2005.
