The western Indian city of Pune was battered by 140 mm (5.5 inches) of rain in 48 hours this week, in what the Maharashtra state chief minister called an “unprecedented” level of monsoon rain.
“Last night in Pune there was a lot of heavy rain that developed into an unprecedented storm,” said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday, in a video he tweeted.
Sacramento, Calif., Cops Who Shot and Killed an Unarmed #StephonClark Are Headed Back to the Streets
“Because of this, a large amount of water entered low-lying areas and caused a lot of damage. There is the possibility that some people were swept away and some people were killed after a wall collapsed over there,” he added.
Most of the rain came on Wednesday, and carried over until early Thursday. 15,000 people were evacuated from Baramati, one of the worst-affected areas, and 38 emergency shelters were set up, officials say.
At least 14 people have died, including a 9-year-old boy, according to district and state officials. Prashant Ranpise, chief fire officer of the Pune Fire Brigade, said many of the deaths resulted from buildings and walls collapsing during flash floods.
Another nine people are still missing, according to Naval Kishore Kumar, the Pune district collector.
Source: ‘Unprecedented’ monsoon rains India leave 14 people dead in western India
