Heavy rain to persist across India as IMD warns of flash floods in Gujarat, Maharashtra | Today’s news
New Delhi: Active monsoon conditions will persist over northwest, central and adjoining northern India as well as eastern and northeastern states for the next three to four days, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) warning of isolated periods of extremely heavy rainfall and risk of flooding in parts of western India.
The weather office said that the Gujarat region, south-eastern Rajasthan and Madhya Maharashtra are likely to experience isolated extremely heavy rainfall on July 24. In contrast, Peninsular India is likely to continue to see subdued rainfall activity over the next seven days.
The Fairly widespread to widespread rainfall in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Uttarakhand from July 24 to 29, IMD forecast. Rain is also expected to intensify over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and East Uttar Pradesh from July 27-29, while Rajasthan is likely to experience widespread showers from July 24-26.
In central In India, widespread rainfall is forecast over Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Vidarbha, while heavy rainfall is expected over Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha and Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the coming week. Most of the northeastern states including Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura are also likely to witness widespread rainfall during this period.
Flash flood warning
The IMD has warned of moderate to high risk during the next 24 hours over parts of Gujarat, Konkan & Goa, Madhya Maharashtra and West Madhya Pradesh. The notice applies to:
- Alirajpur, Barwani, Dhar and Jhabua in West Madhya Pradesh;
- more than a dozen districts across Gujarat, including Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Bharuch and Valsad;
- Mumbai City, Mumbai suburbs, Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg in Konkan & Goa; and
- Ahilyanagar, Dhule, Jalgaon, Kolhapur, Nandurbar, Nashik, Pune and Satara in Madhya Maharashtra.
The the weather bureau said heavy rainfall could cause surface runoff and waterlogging in low-lying areas, especially where the soil is already saturated.
The warning follows intense rain over the past 24 hours. Exceptionally heavy rainfall (30 cm or more) was recorded at isolated places in South Gujarat and Madhya Maharashtra, while Konkan witnessed extremely heavy rainfall (21 cm or more). Very heavy rainfall was reported in Jammu and Kashmir, East Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and heavy rainfall was recorded in parts of West Bengal and Sikkim, Punjab, Nagaland, Vidarbha and coastal and north interior Karnataka.
