With Bihar & Assam flooded, IMD predicts heavy rains in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Odisha

Heavy showers lashed large swathes of the country on Sunday, with nine more people dying in rain-related incidents in Rajasthan, while there was no let up in the flood situation in Assam and Bihar where the deluge has claimed 209 lives this monsoon season.

 

Rains also lashed Madhya Pradesh where a 10-year-old boy was swept away in a swollen nullah in Sehore district on Sunday, officials said.

Widespread intermittent rains in Jammu and Kashmir led to suspension of the Amarnath yatra from three main base camps for the fourth successive day, with the weatherman predicting snowfall in the cave area, officials said.

 

The meterological department has forecast heavy downpour in Odisha in the next one week in the wake of a possible low pressure, following the existing cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal.

 

Delhiites experienced a humid day, with the maximum and minimum temperatures settling at 34.4 and 25.8 degrees Celsius respectively.

The humidity oscillated between 97 per cent and 67 per cent. 

 

The IMD has forecast "extremely heavy" rainfall in Maharashtra, Odisha and parts of north Gujarat on Monday.

 

The department has also issued warning for fishermen in Gujarat and advised them against venturing into the sea in north, west central and southwest parts of the state till August 1 due to gusty winds.

 

On Sunday evening, Kaprada in Valsad, Netrang in Bharuch and Garudeshwar in Narmada received 54 mm, 48 mm, and 34 mm rainfall respectively within 12 hours, according to the State Emergency Operation Centre.

 

In Maharashtra, heavy rains over the past four days in Nashik region has led to water in Gangapur Dam reaching 74 per cent of its storage capacity, an official said.

 

The dam has a total capacity of 5,630 million cubic feet (MCFT), he said.

 

He said residents along the banks of Godavari river have been alerted that water from Gangapur Dam could be released any time now into the river.

A part of a river bridge linking Murbad to Kalyan in Thane district got washed away in the early hours of Sunday due to heavy downpour in the region, an official said.

 

The portion of the bridge on the Ulhas river in Rayta village got washed away and stretches of the road were damaged due to heavy rains, affecting traffic on the highway linking Mumbai to Ahmedabad in neighbouring Gujarat, Murbad Tehsildar Amol Kadam told PTI.

 

Kadam informed that 370 houses were submerged in the floods and rescue teams working overnight shifted families to higher places.

Kota, which received 151.8 mm rains on Sunday, is the worst-affected district in Rajasthan, where nearly 250 people living in low-lying areas were shifted to safer places by SDRF teams. 

 

Nine more causalities were reported from various parts of the state on Sunday.

 

An elderly woman died in Bhilwara after the roof of her house collapsed, while a man was swept away in a swollen drain and three boys were drowned in another drain in Pali, an official said.

 

In Bundi, a 17-year-old boy was drowned in a drain. In Jaipur's Sanganer area, two boys drowned in a waterbody while one death was reported from Jodhpur, the official said.

 

The Met department has predicted extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in Baran, Bhilwara, Bundi, Chittorgarh, Kota and Rajsamand on Sunday, whereas isolated areas in other districts are likely to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall.

 

Floods in Assam claimed one more life in Barpeta district, mounting the toll to 82 so far.

 

A population of 21.68 lakh of 1,716 villages in 56 revenue circles of the state is affected by the deluge.

 

In Bihar, the deluge has affected over 85 lakh people even though the toll remained at 127 for the second consecutive day on Sunday. 

One of the severely affected districts, Darbhanga has so far reported 12 casualties ever since the state was hit by flash floods earlier this month owing to torrential rainfall in catchment areas of Nepal.

 

Altogether 13 north Bihar districts have been hit by floods out of which only Katihar and West Champaran have reported no deaths so far.

Rail traffic has been suspended on Darbhanga-Samastipur section in Bihar due to floods, resulting in cancellation, short termination and diversion of more than a dozen trains on Sunday, the East Central Railway headquarters said.

 

This is the second instance of rail traffic being disrupted in Bihar due to flash floods this year. Earlier, movement of trains on the Sitamarhi-Raxaul section had been suspended on July 13 and restored on July 16.

 

Traffic on Jammu-Srinagar national highway, the only all weather road linking Kashmir with rest of the country, was also suspended after heavy rains in Banihal-Ramban belt triggered a massive landslide in Kella Morh and also led to rolling down of stones from the hills at four other places, the officials said.

Some parts of Punjab and Haryana were also lashed by rains. 

 

Heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places in the two states on July 31 and August 1, according to the Met department.

 

Light to moderate rainfall was recorded at some places of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, with the Sharda river flowing above the danger level.

According to a Central Water Commission report, the Sharda at Palia Kalan was flowing above the danger mark, while the Ghaghra river at Elgin Bridge, Ayodhya and Turtipar was very close to the red mark.

 

Though the low pressure over north Odisha and adjoining Jharkhand has become less marked, a cyclonic circulation in the northwest of Bay of Bengal is created, the Met department said.