New Delhi:
Delhi witnessed its heaviest spell of rains this season on Thursday, and a flood-related death was reported in Bihar, while the meteorological department predicted more rainfall in the country over the next two-three days. In Uttar Pradesh, two members of a family were killed and as many seriously injured when a wall of their ‘kutcha’ house collapsed due to heavy rains, and in Madhya Pradesh, the weather office issued an ‘orange alert’ of very heavy rainfall in eight districts till Friday morning.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said large parts of the country are likely to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall during the next two-three days. Fairly widespread rainfall with heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places are very likely over major parts of north India — Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, east Rajasthan — during the next two days and decrease thereafter, it said. Several parts of western India are also expected to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall.
This includes Gujarat, Goa, Konkan, the ghat areas of central Maharashtra, and parts of central India during next four-five days, the IMD said. “Isolated extremely heavy falls are also likely over Gujarat state during next two-three days and over ghat areas of central Maharashtra during next 24 hours,” it said, adding fairly widespread rainfall with heavy to very heavy falls are likely over Odisha, Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana during the next two-three days In Delhi, Thursday’s rainfall inundated low-lying areas and threw traffic out of gear.
According to the IMD, the Ayanagar weather station recorded 106.9 mm rainfall, the maximum in the city, since Wednesday morning. The Palam and Ridge weather stations gauged 99.9 mm and 98.2 mm precipitation respectively during the period. The Safdarjung observatory, which provides representative figures for the city, recorded 83.8 mm rainfall. Vehicles moved bumper to bumper during the morning rush hours, as the downpour led to heavy waterlogging at key road stretches. A monsoon report shared by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation said waterlogging took place at 41 locations. Besides, parts of buildings collapsed at eight places and trees fell at seven locations, it said.
Three workers of the NDMC were trapped under debris at the Bhalaswa landfill after a part of it slid down due to heavy rains. All three were rescued and rushed to a hospital, officials said. In Maharashtra, heavy rains lashed isolated parts of Mumbai and neighbouring Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts since Wednesday. The weather office predicted more showers in the Konkan region and some areas in the central part of the state over the next one day.
According to the IMD, the Dahanu weather station in coastal Palghar reported 90.1 mm rainfall, while the Thane Belapur Industries Association observatory recorded 57.2 mm rain. The Santacruz weather bureau, representative of Mumbai’s suburbs, recorded 42 mm downpour, while the Colaba observatory in south Mumbai reported 17.8 mm rainfall. Water is being released from the Khadakwasla reservoir in Pune following a good spell of rains in the catchment areas, officials said.
The IMD has issued an ‘orange alert’ of very heavy rainfall in eight districts of Madhya Pradesh till Friday morning. Some isolated places in Chhindwara, Balaghat, Betul, Harda, Khandwa, Alirajpur, Jhabua and Dhar districts are likely to receive very heavy rainfall till Friday morning, it said.
Besides, there is a ‘yellow warning’ of heavy rainfall in 15 more districts. In Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said his government will ensure rehabilitation of the families of those who died in the landslide in Idukki district. The death toll in the landslip stands at 55. Rescue operations are underway and a search is on for 15 more missing people.
A flood-related death was reported in Bihar’s Darbhanga district, taking the toll in the state to 25. The number of people hit by the floods stands at 77.77 lakh. Sixteen districts in the state are affected by the deluge, though inundation by overflowing rivers with origins in Nepal appeared to have slowed down.
In Assam, the flood situation improved, with the water receding from Morigaon district, though 11,262 people in 40 villages of Dhemaji and Baksa districts are still affected, an official bulletin said. The death toll due to flood and landslides in the state stands at 136. The Brahmaputra river is flowing above the danger mark at Nimatighat in Jorhat district, while its tributaries Jia Bharali and Beki are flowing above the red marks at two places.
There was light to moderate rain and thundershowers at most places in Uttar Pradesh, with extremely heavy rainfall at isolated areas in the eastern part. The Lucknow weather office said heavy rain occurred at isolated places in the western part of Uttar Pradesh, and thunderstorm accompanied with lightning was reported from some areas in the state.
Heavy rains lashed most parts of Haryana and Punjab, leading to a drop in maximum temperatures in the region. In Haryana, heavy rains led to waterlogging in some low-lying areas, including in Sonipat and Ambala districts. Rains also lashed Panchkula, Gurgaon, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Panipat and Karnal.
In Punjab, Patiala, Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Mohali were among the places that saw rainfall. In Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, heavy rains caused power breakdown in some areas.
