Heavy rains to return to Mumbai as IMD issues red alert for extremely heavy showers
Rain lashed Mumbai on Monday as the monsoon system active over the Arabian Sea strengthened and the weather department sounded a red alert that it will get intense in the metropolis and its suburbs during the next two days. Though Mumbai had been receiving intermittent rainfall, forecasting agencies said this would be the second spell of heavy rainfall this monsoon after a gap of a fortnight.
Mumbaikars are advised to avoid going out on August 4 and 5, said private forecaster Skymet Weather, adding that the intensity will start decreasing from August 6.
On the east coast, the India Meteorological Department's Odisha centre said a low-pressure area was developing over north Bay of Bengal under the influence of a cyclonic circulation over Gangetic West Bengal and another one over northeast Bay of Bengal. It will bring heavy rainfall to several parts of the state between Tuesday and Thursday.
The IMD advised fishermen to not venture deep into the Bay of Bengal till August 6 as surface winds with speeds up to 50 kmph will make the sea conditions very rough.
The low-pressure area is likely to trigger heavy rainfall and thunderstorms in parts of Madhya Pradesh, too, where the monsoon activity has remained subdued so far.
In north India, a sultry weather prevailed in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana as the axis of the monsoon trough, which was active over the region last week, shifted southwards.
The trough is now passing Ganganagar and Pilani in Rajasthan, through Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh and Banda in Uttar Pradesh, towards Beharampur in West Bengal and Mizoram and Meghalaya.
Under its influence, several areas in Rajasthan were lashed by rain since Sunday. Jaipur, Tonk, Bhilwara and Pilani recorded 34.8, 7, 2 and 3.1 mm rainfall, respectively, in the past 24 hours till Monday evening, according to the local meteorological centre.
Several areas in the state reported waterlogging. In Jaipur, a car got stuck on a flooded road. Locals rescued the driver and the other occupants of the car.
More than 800 villages in 15 districts have been inundated in Uttar Pradesh due to swelling of Sarayu and Rapti rivers, state minister Anil Rajbhar said.
He said embankments had been breached in Gonda, Azamgarh and efforts were on to seal them. As many as 188 medical teams and 16 disaster response and provincial constabulary teams have been deployed for rescue operations.
The flood situation in Assam improved on Monday as the water receded from many areas, though one more person lost his life in the deluge.
This year, floods and landslides have damaged roads and other infrastructure at several places and claimed 136 lives in Assam, according to official estimates.
The number of flood-hit people decreased by 4.65 lakh since Sunday but around 3.89 lakh people in 17 districts are still affected, the Assam government said in a bulletin.
The Brahmaputra river is flowing above the danger mark at Dhubri town, Nimatighat in Jorhat and Tezpur in Sonitpur districts. Its tributaries Dhansiri, Jia Bharali and Kopili are also flowing above the danger level.
