Heavy pre-monsoon rains batter parts of Maharashtra, 1 killed in Nashik

One person was killed and three others injured as thunderstorm and pre-monsoon rains hit parts of Nashik district in Maharashtra, officials said on Sunday. Trees were uprooted at some places in Nashik city due to the stormy winds on Saturday evening and power supply was disrupted in various localities for about five hours, a police official said.

“A 70-year-old woman died when the tin roof of her house in Wadala locality here collapsed on Saturday during the rains coupled with thunderstorm,” an official at Indira Nagar police station said.

Three members of her family were also injured in the incident, he said. Heavy pre-monsoon showers also lashed the district’s Yeola town where some houses suffered damages, another police official said. An onion storage shed in Niphad tehsil and a green house in Manmad area were also destroyed following the heavy downpour, he added.

After a delay of a week, monsoon hit the Kerala coast on Saturday, marking the official commencement of the four-month rainfall season in the country. “Monsoon has made an onset over Kerala today (June 8),” said India Meteorological Department’s Director General-designate Mrutyunjay Mohapatra.

Most of rural India depends on the four-month monsoon season, which accounts for 75 per cent of the annual rainfall, due to a lack of adequate alternative source of irrigation. A good monsoon has a direct impact on the economy as agriculture remains the major contributor to India’s GDP.

The north Indian plains, central India and parts of south India have been recording temperatures over 45 degrees Celsius. Mercury has soared to over 50 degrees in parts of Rajasthan.

On Thursday, IMD said the arrival of monsoon in Delhi is likely to be delayed by two-three days from its usual onset on June 29. However, Skymet said it may take at least a week longer.