The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has enhanced the number of its teams from 18 to 26 for undertaking rescue operations in the coastal areas of Maharashtra that have been hit by heavy rainfall, flooding and landslides.
A spokesperson for the federal contingency force said these teams are being deployed in Mumbai, Ratnagiri, Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Satara, Sangli, Sindhudurg, Kolhapur and Nagpur for rescue and relief work after consultation with the state administration.
The eight new teams have been airlifted by an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft from an NDRF base in Odisha, he said.
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The force is constantly tracking the Indian Metrological Department's weather forecast and Central Water Commission's report with regard to Mumbai and coastal districts of the Konkan region in Maharashtra that are witnessing heavy rainfall since the last few days, the spokesperson said.
An NDRF team usually has 47 personnel and they are equipped with life-saving equipment, inflatable boats and tree and pole cutters.
As per the official data updated till Friday, as many as 129 people have died in rain-related incidents, including multiple landslides, in Maharashtra over the last two days, while 84,452 people under the Pune division were shifted to safer places on Friday as heavy showers continued to wreak havoc in the state.
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The deceased included 38 people who were killed in a landslide in a village in the coastal Raigad district's Mahad tehsil on Thursday.