The Central Water Commission on Monday predicted floods within 24 hours for certain parts of central India and attributed it to the India Meteorological Department’s flash flood guidance, reported Hindustan Times. The commission categorised the risk at the moderate level.

The areas that face the threat of flash floods are north Chhattisgarh, east Madhya Pradesh, west Madhya Pradesh and a few surrounding areas of Rajasthan and south Gujarat sub-division, the commission said in its flood forecast, according to ANI.

The weather department also predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall over east of Rajasthan within Tuesday and Wednesday. Uttarakhand is likely to experience similar weather conditions on Tuesday. Isolated heavy to very heavy rain is expected over Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat, the weather department said.

In the Central Water Commission’s report on Sunday, it predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh in the next two days. “...there is likelihood of rise in water levels in rivers such as Sutlej, Ravi, Beas, Ghaggar, Yamuna, Bhagirathi, Alaknanda, Ganga, Ramganga, Sarda, Sarju and Ghaghra,” the statement said. “There is likelihood of flash floods in some of the hill districts in these states in association with cloud burst.”

On Sunday, the IMD had forecast rain over most of central India for five days. The Central Water Commission on August 13 had flagged a moderate risk of flash floods in the east Rajasthan and surrounding northeast Madhya Pradesh subdivision, ANI had reported.

Meanwhile, the central government said that as many as 868 people across 11 states in India died due to floods between May and August 12.

West Bengal reported the maximum deaths at 245, followed by Assam (136), Kerala (101), Gujarat (98), Karnataka (86), Madhya Pradesh (77), Uttarakhand (46), Tamil Nadu (24), Bihar (24), Arunachal Pradesh (17) and Uttar Pradesh (14), the report released by the Ministry of Home Affairs’ disaster management division last week showed.

Lakhs of people and thousands of acres of crops were affected in these regions due to the incessant rainfall and floods.

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Floods killed nearly 900 people across 11 states since May, says Centre