2021 Maharashtra floods
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 The state of Maharashtra within India | |
| Date | 22 July 2021 – August 2021 |
|---|---|
| Cause | Heavy rainfall |
| Deaths | 209[1] |
| Missing | 8 |
| Property damage | Rs4,000 crore (US$539 million)[1] |
A series of floods took place across the Indian State of Maharashtra in 2021. As of 28 July 2021[update], around 251 people have died and over 100 are still missing due to floods and landslides. 13 districts have been affected in western Maharashtra.[2] Damage was calculated to be Rs4,000 crore (US$539 million).[1]
The flood was part of a series of tightly clustered extreme weather events in July 2021, including extreme rain events in Henan, China and Europe and is part of an increase in rain events during the Indian monsoon season caused by climate change.[3]
Starting on 22 July 2021, Maharashtra saw heavy rainfall in many of its western districts. On 23 July 2021, NDTV reported that Maharashtra saw the highest in the month of July in 40 years.[4]
Climate change could have played an important role in causing large-scale floods across Maharashtra.[5] The observed data shows a three-fold rise in widespread extreme rainfall events across India, including those regions where the floods occurred. The local meteorological conditions showed the presence of a low so boring system in the Bay of Bengal, anchoring the monsoon westerlies blowing from the Arabian Sea. These westerlies brought in an anomalous amount of moisture from the warm Arabian Sea, releasing them as heavy-to-extreme rains across Maharashtra over a week.[6] In April 2021, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research reported about climate change heavily impacting the monsoon seasons in India.[3]
