Several states battered by heavy rainfall, floods; Maharashtra, Telangana on alert
With the onset of the monsoon, several states across the country are witnessing flood-like situations amid heavy rainfall. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued alerts in Telangana, Mumbai, Goa and Karnataka.
Active monsoon conditions over central India and along the West coast are likely to continue during the next five days, India Meteorological Department
Meanwhile, at least 17 people died and 44 were injured in the flash floods triggered by a cloudburst in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ganderbal district. Over three dozen pilgrims were untraceable. The victims were camping near the Amarnath cave shrine when the cloudburst occurred around 6 pm on Friday. The flash flood washed away a part of the camp.
In other news, parts of Delhi and Haryana are likely to receive bouts of rainfall on Sunday, which is expected to bring relief from rising mercury and humidity levels.
ASSAM FLOODS
The flood situation in Assam has improved significantly with the floodwaters receding from several villages. However, more than 6 lakh people still remain affected by the floods. With no casualties reported in the past 24 hours, the number of deaths due to floods and landslides remained unchanged at 190.
The district authorities are running 130 relief camps in nine districts, where 50,167 people are currently taking shelter, the report stated.
CLOUDBURST IN AMARNATH
Rescue operations for the 40 missing people went on overnight after a cloudburst on Friday brought on a flash flood near the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in Jammu and Kashmir. The resulting flood from the cloudburst killed at least 16 people and injured 105 more.
The Indian Air Force (IAD) deployed eight helicopters as part of the rescue and relief operations following the cloudburst incident.
MAHARASHTRA RAINS
At least 130 villages in Maharashtra have been affected and communication has been lost with 128 of them due to heavy rain. Apart from Gadchiroli, Hingoli and Nanded districts in the Marathwada region have also been affected by heavy rain,
Several parts of Maharashtra have been witnessing heavy rainfall over the past few days amidst the wet spell in the state since the onset of a torrential monsoon. An orange alert was issued for Mumbai till July 10.
TELANGANA MONSOON
A red alert was sounded in Telangana after extremely heavy rain was recorded in Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Nizamabad and Rajanna Sircilla districts of the state. Following a red alert, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao urged people to stay at home unless there is an emergency and to take self-precautions.
SCHOOLS SHUT IN KARNATAKA
Amid the prediction of heavy rainfall in Karnataka’s Udupi and Kodagu districts, schools and colleges have been shut.
With heavy rains predicted in vast swathes of Karnataka, state authorities have taken all necessary precautions, said Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. “NDRF and SDRF deployed in Kodagu, Karwar, and Udupi,” he added.
HEAVY RAINFALL IN KERALA
The heavy spell of rain lashing the state for the past one week is likely to continue for the next four days under the combined influence of an offshore trough and a low-pressure system over the Bay of Bengal.
In view of the rain spell, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been deployed in Idukki, Kozhikode, and Wayanad districts. A yellow alert has been sounded for several districts from Sunday to Wednesday. Fishermen are advised not to venture into the sea during this period.
OTHER STATES
Heavy rainfall was reported in coastal Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat on Saturday, as per the weather department. In addition to this, heavy to very heavy rainfall occurred over Uttarakhand, east Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Goa, Marathwada, central Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka, it said.