Monsoon covers almost entire India but skips Delhi; heavy rains in Himachal wreak havoc: 10 points

Even as the monsoon rain reached the desert district of Jaisalmer and Ganganagar on Monday, it gave Delhi and parts of Haryana a miss. Himachal Pradesh, however, was inundated after heavy rains lashed the region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself stepped up to take stock and said that he was "closely monitoring" the situation in the state. He also assured all possible help to the state government. 

On the other hand, lightning strikes in several states have claimed 71 lives so far, including 42 in Uttar Pradesh. Six people, including two minors, were killed and 11 others injured in separate incidents of lightning in parts of Madhya Pradesh. In Uttar Pradesh, the death toll due to lightning strikes rose to 42 people. The maximum 14 fatalities due to lighting were reported from Allahabad, followed by five deaths each in Kanpur Dehat and Fatehpur among others, officials said, adding 23 persons were injured in such incidents. The number of people who died in separate incidents of lightning strikes on Sunday rose in Rajasthan to 23, including 12 in Jaipur. Twenty-seven people were also injured in those incidents.

READ MORE: J&K: Cloudburst in Ganderbal triggers flash floods

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert for Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir, and yellow alert for Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh for Tuesday with warning of heavy rains. Red alert has been issued for Konkan and Goa, and central Maharashtra, while an orange alert warning has been issued for Gujarat, parts of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Assam. The weather agency has four colour-coded warnings based on the intensity of a extreme weather event and issues them in the ascending order of green, yellow, orange and red. According to the IMD, yellow alert has been also issued for Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, parts of West Bengal and Kerala.

READ MORE: PM Modi 'closely monitoring' Himachal flood calamity, says 'all possible support being extended'

A LOOK AT THE MONSOON SITUATION IN INDIA

1. It rained in the periphery of Delhi -- Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh and Karnal in Haryana -- but clouds hovered over the national capital, without giving any relief from the hear. The rains also covered West Rajasthan, Punjab and other parts of Haryana. It was in the year 2002 when monsoon was most-delayed in Delhi as it reached on July 19. 
2. According to IMD Director Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, the Southwest Monsoon clouds are hovering over the national capital since Saturday, even the wind pattern has changed and easterlies have brought moist winds. "But it has not rained so far. This is a very peculiar situation," he said. 
3. Mohapatra said the arrival of monsoon over Delhi will be declared as soon as it rains since the other conditions have been fulfilled. Earlier, the IMD had predicted monsoon for June 15, however, that never happened. In early June, the weather agency said that conditions will become favourable for monsoon to advance to Delhi and other parts of northwest India by July 7. Later, it said Delhi will get its first monsoon rains around July 10. However, Delhiites were kept waiting on Sunday and there was hardly any rainfall on Monday too.
4. The IMD in its latest forecast said that Delhi is likely to witness light rain on Tuesday. It is expected to be a generally cloudy day with chances of light rain on Tuesday as the minimum and maximum temperatures are likely to hover around 25 degrees Celsius and 33 degrees Celsius respectively. 
5. On the contrary, Himachal Pradesh is struggling with flashfloods that swept away buildings and cars in Dharamshala town of Kangra district. Bad weather forced the closure of the airport. 
6. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has rushed three teams to conduct rescue-and=search operations in the flash flood-affected regions in Kangra district. The teams were sent after heavy rains hit many parts of the district and several people were reported stranded near Boh and Tatwani villages. 
7. The central force has pre-deployed a total of 112 teams across the country in view of the ongoing monsoon rains and flood season. Meanwhile, additional teams were kept on alert at the NDRF base in Bathinda and a control room is operational at the force headqyarters that is monitoring the situation round-the-clock.

8. The Dharamshala district administration has instructed tourists to postpone their visit to Dharamsala in view of the heavy rains. A drain near Bhagsu Nag in upper Dharamsala adjoining Mecleodganj changed its course owing to heavy rains, sweeping away four cars and several bikes. A government school building at Bhagsunag was also damaged and adjacent hotels there were inundated.

9. Light to moderate rain/thundershower occurred at few places over eastern Uttar Pradesh and at isolated places over western parts of the state on Monday, the meteorological department said. Thunderstorm accompanied with lightning occurred at isolated places over the state. Rainfall was recorded in Kannauj, Prayagraj, Jalaun, Siddharth Nagar, Shravasti, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Hardoi, Farrukhabad, Agra, Maharajganj, Balrampur, Pratapgarh, Jaunpur, Hamirpur and Shahjahanpur.

10. Rains lashed several parts of Punjab and neighbouring Haryana on Monday, bringing relief to the people from the sultry weather conditions and ending the prolonged dry spell. The rains brought the mercury by a few notches. The two states, including their common capital Chandigarh, had witnessed a near dry spell during the past over three weeks.

READ MORE: Rains wreak havoc in Himachal Pradesh; cloudburst in Dharamshala, NH blocked in Shimla

Latest India News