DHARASHIV, Sept. 28 -- Five of eight districts in traditionally drought-prone Marathwada were lashed by rain in a second severe spell, which started on Friday night. Two deaths were reported and many villages were submerged. Beed, Dharashiv, Latur and Nanded recorded heavy rainfall in many talukas, while Ahmedpur in Latur, Bhoom and Paranda in Dharashiv, Gangakhed in Parbhani, and Beed city in Beed were also pounded by rain. One person each in Dharashiv and Nanded drowned in the floodwaters in the last 24 hours. Many state and district roads in Bhoom and Paranda tehsils of Dharashiv were shut owing to water released from the Sina-Kolegaon dam. Bembali-Borkheda and the Kajla flyover in Dharashiv were also closed to traffic. Similarly, the Gangakhed-Palam and Rani-Savarkhed highways in Parbhani district were shut after being submerged on Saturday morning. "Discharge of water from the Sina Kolegaon dam was increased to 80,150 cusecs on Saturday, causing water levels to rise in many tehsils in Dharashiv, and villagers have been evacuated in Bhoom, Paranda tehsils," said an official from the district collectorate. All eight districts in Marathwada have breached their annual average rainfall till September-end. Dharashiv and Beed registered the highest - 153% and 147%, respectively. Hingoli registered 134%, Jalana recorded 128%, Latur 126% and Parbhani registered 114% rainfall till September 27. According to the Dharashiv collectorate, 1,048 houses collapsed, 207 heads of cattle perished, and 2.27 lakh hectares of crops belonging to 1.98 lakh farmers have been damaged in the last 24 hours. NDRF has deployed six teams in Solapur, Dharashiv, Beed and Latur, and has teams on standby in Pune, Mumbai, Thane and Nagpur for quick mobilisation due to the red alert sounded in these districts. Anant Gavhane, deputy collector from the divisional commissioner's office in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, said, "Marathwada is known for drought and we even sent a "water train" to Latur ten years ago. But weather patterns have changed and rainfall here has been higher than average in the last five years." Meanwhile, Solapur in Western Maharashtra is also struggling due to incessant rain and water released from dams in the region. Laxman Moghal, talathi of Undargaon village in Madha tehsil, said floodwaters had cut off 10 of 16 villages in his taluka from the rest of the district....