While rainfall brought necessary relief from the sweltering heat in Western India’s Rajasthan and Gujarat region, it has brought Assam to a standstill as the Northeastern state witnessed floods and landslides that killed at least four people.
Moderate to heavy rainfall was recorded in parts of Rajasthan in the last 24 hours on Tuesday. Director of Meteorological Center, Jaipur, Radheshyam Sharma said that in the last 24 hours, heavy rain was recorded in Barmer district and in Baran district.
He said that till 8.30 am on Tuesday morning, 13 cm rain was recorded in Chauhtan of Barmer, 10 cm in Atru of Baran, 8 cm in Barmer, 7 cm in Barmer tehsil, 7 cm in Bhopalgarh of Jodhpur, 6 cm in Pratapgarh and 5 cm each in Kumbhalgarh, Rajsamand, and Barmer’s Baytu. Several other places recorded 1 to 4 cm rainfall during the same period.
He said that till 5.30 pm on Tuesday, 7 mm rain was recorded in Banswara, two mm of rain in Ajmer, 1 mm in Chittorgarh and 0.6 mm in Bhilwara. According to the department, the day temperature was recorded at 44.7 degree Celsius each in Sri Ganganagar and Sangaria of Hanumangarh on Tuesday, whereas Dholpur recorded 42.4 degree, Nagaur 41.4 degree, Alwar 41.2 degree, Sawai Madhopur 39.9 degree, Jalore 39.4 degree.
Meanwhile, Jaipur recorded 36.6 degree Celsius. Director of Jaipur Meteorological Center said that light to moderate rain activities at isolated places will continue over east Rajasthan for the next three-four days. From June 17 to 19, there is a possibility of light to moderate rain with thunder lightening in Bikaner division, he added.
Assam
At least four people were killed in a massive landslide in Guwahati amid heavy rain that flooded the city, officials said on Tuesday. A huge mass of earth buried a house, with four people inside, on a hillside in Nijarapar in Boragaon area, an official of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) told PTI.
“The landslide happened around 1 AM mainly due to incessant rain. No other person is trapped as of now,” ASDMA District Project Officer (Kamrup Metropolitan) Kaustav Talukdar said. With the fresh fatalities, the total number of people losing their lives in this year’s flood and landslides across the state has gone up to 42.
ASDMA, in its daily flood bulletin, said that authorities have opened two relief camps in Guwahati city, where 617 people are taking shelter as of now. With the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Guwahati predicting “extremely heavy rainfall” over the next few days, the situation is expected to deteriorate further and more people are likely to throng the relief camps.
ASDMA said landslides have been reported from at least 19 places in and around the city, including Kamakhya, Kharghuli, Hengerabari, Silpukhuri, Uzan Bazar, Gandhi Basti and Chandmari Colony, but there were no casualties. Incessant rain since Monday night created havoc in Guwahati, leading to knee-deep water logging on all major and minor roads across the city, while at some places water has touched the chest level.
The entrance and the approach road of the Guwahati railway station was totally submerged, inconveniencing passengers. Scores of vehicles, including school buses, were stuck on the roads as their engines failed in the flood waters, which have also entered hundreds of houses in the city.
Massive traffic jams were reported from many areas with vehicles being stranded for several hours. Flooding was reported from Zoo Road, RG Baruah Road, GS Road, Nabin Nagar, Anil Nagar, Hatigaon, Ganeshguri, Hedayetpur, MLA quarters in Dispur, Lachit Nagar, Tarun Nagar, Jyotikuchi, Ghoramara, VIP Road, Rajgarh Road, Jorabat and Chatribari, among other areas.
Residents of Nabin Nagar left their homes during early hours and came to the footpaths of Rajgarh in the heart of the city. They alleged that no one from the administration reached out to them and all of them, including the children, were without drinking water. At least 10 boats have been deployed in various parts of Guwahati to rescue residents from flooded areas by the district administration, Fire and Emergency Services, police and SDRF personnel.
The Kamrup Metropolitan district administration has issued an advisory, asking people “not to venture out unless absolutely essential” in view of the incessant rain. “If your residence is prone to water logging/landslides, please consider shifting to a safer location or please contact District Administration at 1077/ 86381 12297,” it tweeted.
Kamrup Metropolitan Deputy Commissioner Pallav Gopal Jha ordered to close all schools, colleges and other educational institutes on Wednesday over prediction of incessant rains by the RMC. The RMC has issued ‘Red Alert’ for Assam and Meghalaya and predicted up to isolated and scattered “extremely heavy rainfall” from Tuesday to Thursday, while ‘Orange Alert’ for Friday and Saturday.
“An eastwest trough runs from East Uttar Pradesh to Manipur across central parts of Bihar, Sub Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim and Assam at mean sea level,” it added. The weather report said that moisture incursion is very likely to continue due to strong lower level winds from the Bay of Bengal to Northeast India from June 14-18.
“Under its influence, widespread rainfall accompanied with thunderstorm/lightning/heavy to very heavy with extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places is very likely to continue over Northeastern states from June 14-18 2022,” RMC said. Meanwhile, ASDMA said that massive erosions have been witnessed in Bajali, Bongaigaon, Morigaon, Nagaon, Nalbari, Tamulpur and Udalguri districts.
Embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructure have been damaged by flood waters in Barpeta, Cachar, Chirang, Dhemaji, Goalpara, Kamrup, Morigaon, Nalbari, South Salmara, Tamulpur, Darrang, Dibrugarh, Kokrajhar and Udalguri, it added. The mighty Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger marks at Nimatighat in Jorhat district, ASDMA said.
Gujarat
Monsoon has arrived in Gujarat and light to moderate rains are likely across the state in the next five days, the IMD said on Monday.
Participating in a meeting of the Weather Watch Group, chaired by Director of Relief, C.C. Patel at Gandhinagar, IMD official M. Mohanty said there is possibility of 96 to 104 percent rainfall during the entire monsoon.
Giving information about the rainfall in the state in the last 24 hours, Patel said that from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., rain has been recorded in two talukas of two districts in the state. So far the highest rain has been recorded in Nadiad of Kheda district, that is 7 mm.
An Agriculture Department official said said that the planting of kharif crops in the current year is estimated at 2,53,029 lakh hectares by June 13, as against 2,18,554 lakh hectares last year, or an increase of 2.4 per cent more than the average area under the last three years.
Delhi
The meteorological department has issued a yellow alert, warning of thundershowers and gusty winds towards Wednesday afternoon or evening in the national capital. The Safdarjung Observatory, the city’s base station, recorded a minimum temperature of 29.4 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal. The maximum temperature is predicted to settle around 40 degrees Celsius.
On Tuesday, a cloud cover had cocooned Delhi, causing the maximum temperature at the Safdarjung Observatory to drop below 40 degrees Celsius for the first time this month. Consecutive western disturbances and lower-level easterlies predicted in the coming days are likely to keep the heat at bay.
The India Meteorological Department has issued a yellow alert, warning of thundershowers or light rain over the next six days. The mercury is predicted to drop to 35 degrees Celsius by Sunday. Since June 1, when the monsoon season starts, the national capital has not recorded any rainfall. Usually, it receives 13.8 mm of rainfall in the first 13 days of the month.
Mahesh Palawat, vice-president (climate change and meteorology), Skymet Weather, said the monsoon is expected to arrive in Delhi around the usual date — June 27 — or a day or two in advance. Last year, the IMD had forecast that the monsoon would arrive in Delhi nearly two weeks before its usual date. However, it reached the capital only on July 13, making it the most delayed in 19 years.
Palawat said there is a very slim chance of heatwave conditions returning to Delhi now. The weather will become clear after June 21 and dry westerly winds will commence but a steep rise in temperature is not predicted. The capital has recorded a maximum temperature of 42 degrees Celsius and above on 26 days so far this summer season, the highest number of such days since 2012, according to IMD data.
In 2012, the city recorded a maximum temperature of 42 degrees Celsius or above on 30 days. The number of such days was 35 in 2010, the highest in the 1951-2022 period, the data showed. The city has seen six heatwave spells this summer, the deadliest being in mid-May when the maximum temperature soared to 49 degrees Celsius at some places.
The latest heatwave spell began on June 2 amid the absence of strong western disturbances and an onslaught of hot and dry westerly winds.
West Bengal
The northern parts of West Bengal may receive heavy downpour while fairly widespread rainfall with lightning is likely to occur in the southern districts over the next five days, the MeT Department said on Tuesday. The southwest monsoon is likely to advance to parts of Gangetic West Bengal in the next two-three days as conditions are favourable for it, the weatherman said.
Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall may occur in the sub-Himalayan districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Alipurduar, Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri. Places in the Dooars region of North Bengal received substantial rainfall in 24 hours till 8.30 AM on Tuesday.
Hasimara recorded the highest amount rainfall at 190 mm, followed by 130 mm each in Diana and Kumargram and 120 mm in Nagrakata, the MeT Department added.
Intense convection over east, NE India may help monsoon’s further advance: IMD
Intense convection over large parts of east India, NE India Odisha, Tamil Nadu, among other places, late on Tuesday night may help in further advancement of the Southwest Monsoon, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
“There is intense convection over parts of east India – Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal and adjoining areas of Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh – apart from northeast India, south Madhya Pradesh and its neighbourhood, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu,” said a senior IMD meteorologist.
Isolated moderate/intense thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds – speed occasionally increasing to 50-60 kmph – with rainfall over these areas is very likely during couple of hours, the IMD warning said and suggested necessary precautions by all.
The convection patch is persisting over east India and during night time, it may cause moderate to severe thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds as mentioned, it added.
(With inputs from agencies)
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