Heavy rains cause flood-like situation in various parts of country

Rain in Ahmedabad city of Gujarat on Saturday. (Express Photo by Javed Raja)

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said the state’s disaster management authority has been put on alert to tackle any emergency situation. According to the India Meteorological Department(IMD), Ahmedabad recorded 31 mm of rainfall and also warned of “heavy to very heavy” rains in Gujarat in the next three days.

People hold umbrellas to protect themselves during heavy rain in Shimla on Saturday. (Express Photo by Pradeep Kumar)

Meanwhile, the widespread rains led to fresh landslides in Himachal Pradesh, blocking the Manali-Leh road near Koksar. The state received 21 per cent excess rain and all districts except Bilaspur, Chamba, Mandi and Hamirpur had above average rains. The MeT office has also predicted moderate to heavy rains and thundershowers in the mid and lower hills, and snow and rains in the higher reaches up to July 7.

A woman crossing floodwaters with her child on a makeshift bamboo bridge at Ramkrishana Nagar village in Karimganj district, Assam.(PTI Photo)

In the northeastern state of Assam, over two lakh people are affected due to heavy rains and floodwaters in eight districts — Barpeta, Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Karimganj,Cachar, Dhemaji, Karbi Anglong and Biswanath. According to a report by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, 453 villages have been inundated and over 5,272 hectares of crop area damaged by the swirling flood waters. The worst hit district in the state is Karimganj with 1.53 lakh sufferers. In Lakhimpur district, around  76,000 people have been affected while 5,670 people have taken shelter in 269 relief camps set up in four districts.

New Delhi Advance of South West Monsoon 2017 (PTI GRAPHICS)

Manipur too is witnessing incessant rainfall, with all major rivers in the state flowing above the danger mark. The Nambul river is overflowing at several places causing flood in vast paddy fields and residential areas in Heibongpokpi in Imphal West district. Lepao Haokip, the Irrigation and Flood Control Minister, said the officials are working round the clock to tackle the situation. Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said, “Officials had been instructed to open the gates at the Ithai barrage, so that there is no overflowing of the rivers. The government is also planning to dredge the swallow rivers.”

The southwest monsoon has also advanced over parts of Bihar, where heavy rainfall brought the mercury down in the state. While heavy showers drenched the northern part of Bihar, the southern part of the state received light to moderate rainfall in the last 24 hours. “Patna gauged 0.7 mm of precipitation, Gaya 0.6 mm and Purnea and 7.7 mm. Humidity levels soared up to 100 per cent in Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur and Purnea,” said a PTI report.

Rain causing water logging in various part of New Delhi . Express photo by Praveen Khanna

The Delhi-NCR region too witnessed a fresh spell of rains that kept the mercury levels down. According to the Safdarjung observatory, the city received 20.4 mm of rain till Sunday morning. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to settle at 33 and 25 degrees during the day.

Neighbouring states Punjab and Haryana too witnessed rainfall as the maximum temperature in the two states remained below the normal levels and was recorded in the mid 30s at most of the places. In the last hours, heavy rainfall in Bikaner, Jodhpur and Jaipur division of Rajasthan were also reported.

Heavy rainfall and a hightide of 4.81m hit Mumbai. (Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)

On Saturday morning, Mumbai city and adjoining areas too witnessed heavy rains affecting suburban rail services on both routes of the Central Railway. The heavy rains also resulted in water logging in few areas of Sion and Hindmata area in Dadar in the city causing trouble in vehicular movement.

Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh also might receive heavy downpour today. There are also possibilities of rainfall in Arunachal Pradesh, Gangetic West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, west Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Goa, Chhattisgarh and coastal Karnataka.