Weather forecast Today HIGHLIGHTS: In the aftermath of heavy rains in the northern states, the death toll reached 42 due to landslides in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and floods in Punjab and Haryana.
The Yamuna river which has been flowing above the danger mark in the national capital threatened to swell further as Haryana released water from a barrage on Tuesday. Thousands of people living on the Yamuna floodplains in North Delhi, including Laxmi Nagar, Kashmere Gate and ITO, are seeking refuge at higher places. The government has begun constructing temporary tents to provide shelter, but locals claim it isn’t enough. The MeT department has forecast cloudy skies with light rain or drizzle is forecast for the day in NCR.
Moderate to heavy showers are forecast in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Some places such as Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Coastal Andhra Pradesh is likely to witness thunderstorm, as per the IMD bulletin.
The national capital experienced sultry weather on Wednesday as rains continued to evade the city for the last few days. The weather department said that similar conditions are likely to prevail for the next two to three days after which a fresh spell of rain is predicted on August 25 and 26. On Wednesday, the city recorded a high of 36.1 degrees Celsius, two notches above the normal, and a low of 24.8 degrees Celsius. Humidity levels oscillated between 51 and 92 per cent.
The toll in the recent rain related incidents in Kerala climbed to 125 with the recovery of two more bodies on Wednesday, even as the search is continuing for the 17 still missing in the landslide hit northern districts of Malappuram and Wayanad. In Malappuram 60 people have been killed so far and 11 are stillmissing, while in neighbouring Wayanad, 14 have lost their lives and search is to trace five more missing people.
Many parts of Odisha are likely to be lashed by heavy rainfall in the next four days, the Meteorological Centre here said on Wednesday. A monsoon trough line extending from east Uttar Pradesh to north Tamil Nadu through Odisha is likely to trigger heavy rain in many areas of the state, it said in a weather bulletin.
This August is turning out to be one of the wettest months during monsoon since 2015, as 1,204 meteorological stations have recorded rainfall of more than 11.5 cm and another 272 meteorological stations have recorded over 20.4 cm, both for a period of 24 hours, in this month.
The data, provided by the office of Climate Research Division at the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Pune, shows that most of these stations are located along the west coast, northeast and north India regions. Read more here
Chennai and its surroundings witnessed mild overnight rains on Tuesday even as the weather office forecast more spells during the next two days due to a "wind confluence." The wind confluence would bring in light to heavy rains in north Tamil Nadu and the neighbouring Puducherry and Karaikal during the next two days, N Puviarasan, director, Regional Meteorological Centre, said.
The minimum temperature was 24.8 degrees Celsius. The maximum is expected to hover around 36 degrees Celsius, said a MeT department official. In the past 24 hours, traces of rains were recorded in some parts of the city, he said. Relative humidity was 82 per cent at 8.30 AM. (PTI)
Fresh landslides struck Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district on Wednesday, blocking traffic on the Manali-Leh Highway. The death toll in the recent rain that triggered landslides in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and floods in Punjab and Haryana rose to 42 with four more bodies being retrieved in Uttarkashi. The weather, however, was mostly clear today.
In Punjab, several villages in Ludhiana, Rupnagar and Jalandhar remained inundated because of breaches in the earthen embankments of the Sutlej river. Following the recent rains and the release of excess water from the Bhakra Dam, the Sutlej river and its tributaries had flooded villages in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Ferozepur and Rupnagar, causing damage to crops, especially paddy, and houses in low-lying areas. (PTI)
According to the latest weather update by IMD, a cyclonic circulation persists over west Assam and neighbouring states at 1.5 km above mean sea level. Light rainfall is expected at isolated places over Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. Maximum temperatures will remain above normal (1.6 degree Celcius to 3.0 degree Celcius).
Water started receding in many places in Haryana with no fresh spell of rainfall on Tuesday, as teams of the Army and the NDRF continued to carry out rescue operations. While the Yamuna river is still swollen, Chief Minister ML Khattar has given evacuation orders for Yamunanagar, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat and Sonipat.
A 30-member film crew from Kerala, including actor Manju Warrier, was rescued after they were stranded in a remote Himachal Pradesh village following heavy rains and floods for the past few days . The plight of the crew came to light after the 'How Old Are You' actress contacted her family in Kerala through a satellite phone on Monday night to inform that they had been stranded in Chatru village in Balh area of Mandi district following multiple landslides due to recent heavy rains. (PTI)
NCP president Sharad Pawar on Tuesday met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis here and asked the government to take efforts on a war footing to compensate and rehabilitate those hit by unprecedented floods in parts of Maharashtra. Pawar also asked the state government to provide basic amenities at the earliest to flood-affected people in Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara and other areas. Heavy rains and floods battered several areas of western Maharashtra and the Konkan region earlier this month, with Kolhapur and Sangli districts bearing the maximum brunt. (PTI)
At least 20 people are missing in Sanel village of Mori block in Uttarkashi district, following an incident of cloudburst there. 15 bodies have been recovered so far. The search operation is still underway.
As Punjab grapples with floods, which Chief Minister Amarinder Singh termed as “unprecedented”, the blame is more on the rainfall in catchment area of Sutlej river in Himachal Pradesh, than on rain back home. How did the rain in Himachal Pradesh cause floods in Punjab? Read our explainer here.
Fairly widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy falls are likely over East Madhya Pradesh and isolated heavy falls likely over Chhattisgarh and West Madhya Pradesh during the next two days, according to the India Meteorological Department. On Tuesday, rain and thundershowers were observed from 08:30 am to 5:30 pm over East and West Madhya Pradesh
Indian Meteorological Department scientist Kuldeep Srivastava on Tuesday said rains are likely to subside in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh over the next four to five days, leading to an improvement in the situation in Delhi as well. Life is gradually limping back to normalcy in the state after three days of heavy rain.
The national capital woke up to a cloudy morning Wednesday, with the minimum temperature settling two notches below the season's average at 24.8 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature is expected to touch 36 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, the IMD has predicted light rains in the city today and cloudy skies. Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 34.6 degrees Celsius on Tuesday and a minimum of 24.6 degrees Celsius.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat visited the rain-ravaged Mori block of Uttarkashi, where 16 people died. Rescue teams from the State Disaster Response Force recovered three more bodies in Sanel village there, Uttarkashi's Disaster Management officer Devendra Patwal said.
Makudi is the worst hit among the six villages where heavy rains led to the collapse of several houses early on Sunday. So far, seven bodies have been recovered from Makudi, four each from Arakot and Sanel and one from Tikochi. Later, addressing a press conference in Dehradun, Rawat said 51 villages in Uttarkashi were affected in the disaster which has caused losses of around Rs 130 crore.