Parts of North India to get heavy rain till Saturday, says weather department
The Yamuna river was flowing near the danger mark in New Delhi on Wednesday, and its waters are likely to swell on Thursday.
The India Meteorological Department has forecast intense rainfall over several parts of North India for the next four days, PTI reported on Thursday.
The weather department issued an orange alert for Uttarakhand for August 27 and August 28 and a yellow alert for August 29 and August 30. An orange alert has also been issued for eastern Uttar Pradesh for August 28 and for east Rajasthan (August 29 and August 30).
The other places for which the IMD has issued a yellow alert are Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and west Rajasthan. In all these regions, the IMD expects heavy rainfall for the next four days.
An orange alert asks authorities to “be prepared”, while a yellow alert asks them to “be updated” about the current situation.
Jammu and Kashmir
In Jammu, a 35-year-old man was killed and a bridge washed away in heavy rain. Most parts of Jammu have faced heavy rainfall since Tuesday, with rainwater flooding homes.
The police rescued 15 nomadic persons who were caught in flashfloods in the Ujh river near Rajbagh area of Kathua district. The district administration in Rajouri has asked people living in low-lying areas and on river banks to remain alert, NDTV reported.
The Indian Air Force rescued a civilian who was stranded on a marooned island in Rajouri on Tuesday, according to a defence spokesperson. “A message was received in the evening about an individual stranded on a marooned island south of Naushera,” the spokesperson said. “An IAF helicopter, captained by Squadron Leader Ganesh Prasad Honakuppe, was immediately pressed into service to rescue him.”
Delhi and Uttar Pradesh
The Yamuna river was flowing near the danger mark in New Delhi on Wednesday, and its waters are likely to rise on Thursday as more water is released into it from the Hathnikund Barrage in Haryana. The IMD had withdrawn a heavy rain warning for Delhi on Wednesday. It also said that the concentration of moisture around eastern Uttar Pradesh would delay the moderate to heavy rainfall expected in the national Capital on Thursday.
In Uttar Pradesh, the number of districts affected by the rain and floods rose to 19 on Wednesday. “There are 19 flood-affected districts, where 922 villages are affected, of which 571 are marooned,” Uttar Pradesh Relief Commissioner Sanjay Goel said. The affected districts are Ambedkarnagar, Ayodhya, Azamgarh, Bahraich, Ballia, Barabanki, Basti, Deoria, Farrukhabad, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Kasganj, Pilibhit, Kushinagar, Lakhimpur Kheri, Mau, Santkabirnagar, Shahjananpur and Sitapur.
Till Tuesday, 1090 villages in 18 districts of Uttar Pradesh had been affected, of which 620 villages were marooned.
“A lot of rain is being recorded in east Uttar Pradesh,” IMD senior scientist RK Jenamani said according to Hindustan Times. “The southwesterly winds are moving towards east UP but our models are showing that Delhi, Punjab and Haryana will also record moderate to heavy rain on August 27. The low pressure area over Bay of Bengal has moved inland to Gangetic West Bengal bringing widespread rains to Bengal and Odisha.”
Odisha and Central India
Many parts of Odisha, such as Kendrapara, Sundergarh, Boudhgarh, Mayurbhanj, Keongjhargarh, Sonepur, Jagatsinghpur, Balrampur and Paradip have recorded between 18 cm and 23 cm of rain since Tuesday.
Heavy to very heavy rain is also likely over parts of Central India like Chhattisgarh, east Madhya Pradesh and Vidarbha till August 30, the weather department has said.