Monsoon Fury: Nine Dead in Surat, 11 Trapped in Maharashtra as Heavy Rains Batter India

Heavy monsoon rains battered India on Wednesday, triggering flash floods, building collapses and widespread transit disruptions. Eleven people remain trapped under a collapsed garbage mound at a waste processing site in Maharashtra's Pimpri Chinchwad.

At least nine people died in rain-related incidents in Surat over the last few days, officials informed PTI.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke with the chief ministers of Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir to pledge central assistance.

Maharashtra Grapples With Deluge

In Moshi in Pimpri Chinchwad, a massive garbage mound crashed onto a three-storey administrative building of a private waste-processing firm. The incident trapped 11 of the 23 initial victims working at the site.

Heavy rains and thunderstorms returned to Mumbai after a brief respite. The downpour delayed local suburban trains by 25-30 minutes and forced the diversion of nine flights due to low visibility. All the diverted flights later returned and landed at the Mumbai airport.

Civic officials stated that Tulsi Lake and Vihar Lake, two of Mumbai's seven drinking water reservoirs, overflowed due to heavy catchment area rainfall.

Long-distance train services towards Gujarat remained disrupted due to waterlogging in the Vasai-Virar section in Palghar district, while operations on the Mumbai-Pune route were yet to be fully restored following landslides in the Bhor Ghat section.

The district administration in Nashik urged residents along the Godavari, Kadva and Girna rivers to evacuate valuables and livestock. Authorities issued the warning due to water discharge from the Palkhed and Nandur Madhmeshwar reservoirs.

Rail services between Neral and Karjat in Raigad were suspended for an hour due to the overflowing Ulhas river flooding the tracks.

Surat Submerged Under Torrent

Surat received 358 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending Wednesday morning, creating a severe flood-like situation. Disaster response teams rescued over 3,400 people and shifted more than 3,800 from low-lying areas to safer locations.

Nine deaths, including children, were reported due to electrocutions, tree-fall incidents and drownings.

Floodwater entered homes and commercial complexes. The deluge completely submerged ground-floor shops at Poddar Arcade in Varachha and halted city bus services.

Capital Region Paralyzed

One person died and four were rescued after a four-storey under-construction building collapsed in Delhi's Rohini area. Emergency responders fear four to five others, besides the property owner's husband, remain trapped under the debris.

Severe waterlogging hit several Delhi areas. The flooded zones included Sadar Bazar, Nasirpur, Greater Kailash, Badarpur, Teliwara, Mahavir Bazar, Swarup Nagar and Kushak Road. Delhi civic bodies received at least 10 complaints of rain-related waterlogging, tree falls and electricity disruptions. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued 'red' and 'orange' alerts warning of thunderstorms and more rain.

Commuters faced massive delays on Delhi's Ring Road, Outer Ring Road and NH-48 near Dhaula Kuan, Mahipalpur and Rajokri.

In the suburb of Gurgaon, traffic crawled for hours on the Delhi-Jaipur Highway service lane near Narsinghpur. Commuters faced similar gridlock in Basai, Umang Bhardwaj Chowk, Kadipur, Sector-10A and Sohna road.

Hills and Plains Battered

In Kerala's Wayanad, search operations continued for five missing people. A rain-soaked mound of excavated earth collapsed at a tunnel project site, which Chief Minister V D Satheesan visited to assess.

Flash floods in Himachal Pradesh's Rampur subdivision in Shimla district damaged a temporary bridge over the Ganvi khad stream. The destruction cut off the twin panchayats of Kyao and Kut.

Landslides in Uttarakhand deposited debris that blocked traffic on approximately 70 roads across the state. The Dehradun district ordered all schools and anganwadi centres to close on Thursday following an orange alert for heavy rain.

In Rajasthan, the southwest monsoon remained highly active. Ramganj Mandi in Kota recorded the state's highest rainfall of 10 cm.