(Mumbai, Aug 10) The death toll in the Maharashtra floods has touched 219 as heavy showers continued to pound the state Thursday.
About 250,000 people have been displaced till now, according to government authorities.
Army officials at Pune said two helicopters were rushed to Pimplekheda in Nashik district to carry out rescue operations.
An army official said people in flood-hit areas are not willing to vacate their houses.
"People don't want to move out of their houses. They don't want to shift to another place leaving behind their personal belongings and cattle. They say they want to die in their homes," said Brigadier P.B. Charak, director general of air operations with the army's Southern Command.
The governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat have set up joint control rooms in Mumbai and at Ahmedabad, where officials are regularly monitoring the situation.
Floodwaters, however, have started receding at many locations and more than 150 talukas, and 5,000 village are better off than in the past 24 hours, officials said.
Train services on the Western Railway section between Maharashtra and Gujarat - paralysed due to flooding - had been restored Thursday, officials said.