Weather Update: Heavy rains claim 3 lives in Rajasthan’s Jaipur; steady showers hit normal life in several parts

Heavy showers lashed several parts of the country on Friday with three people getting killed in a rain-related incident in Rajasthan while the flood in Assam claimed two more lives even as 13 NDRF teams were deployed across Gujarat due to widespread downpour inundating many parts of the state.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and took stock of the situation arising due to the heavy rains and waterlogging and said that if necessary, more NDRF teams will be sent to the state.
The flood situation in Assam remained grim as water entered fresh areas raising the number of affected people to over 29,000 in four districts while two more people died in Naoboicha in Lakhimpur district taking the toll in this year’s flood and landslide to 138 across the state.

A day after witnessing its heaviest spell of rains this monsoon season, the national capital experienced sultry weather as traces of rainfall occurred in parts of the city and the maximum humidity was recorded at 97 per cent while the maximum temperature settled a notch below the season’s average at 32.5 degrees Celsius.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast, the sky will remain cloudy in the national capital on Independence Day and light showers are likely to occur in the afternoon or evening. Heavy rains in Rajasthan’s state capital Jaipur claimed the lives of three people who were killed after their car was swept away by strong water currents while crossing a bridge in Kanota area where a dam had overflowed.

Three hours of incessant rain resulted in waterlogging in several parts and scores of vehicles being stranded on roads. As the city’s low-lying areas were inundated, 50 families were moved to safer places.  In Gujarat, at least 225 roads, including 12 state highways, were closed following a heavy spell of rains in many parts following which the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams were deployed across the state.

On Thursday night, the NDRF and Morbi district administration rescued six villagers, who were stuck in a causeway on a seasonal river near Amran village in the district. As many as 100 people stranded in low-lying areas such as Parvat Patiya and Puna Gam of Surat city were shifted to safer places.

“Gujarat has already received 70 per cent of its total rainfall as on today (Friday). Widespread rains are expected to continue in the next five days, with heavy showers in several parts of the state on Saturday,” said Jayanta Sarkar, director of state meteorological centre.

Several parts of Odisha too witnessed heavy showers due to formation of a low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal while the IMD said that the downpour will continue for the next three days. The low pressure now lies over north coastal Odisha and adjoining areas of northwest Bay of Bengal and Gangetic West Bengal.

It is likely to concentrate into a depression by Saturday, raising the likelihood of heavy to very heavy rainfall in many parts of the state till August 17, it said. The Met Centre issued ‘orange warning’ for Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Sambalpur, Angul and Deogarh where heavy to very heavy rainfall may lash some places with isolated extremely heavy to very heavy rainfall in these districts till Saturday.

Orange warning’ is for weather conditions that have the capacity to impact significantly and requires the authorities to remain prepared. In West Bengal, Kolkata and adjoining districts received light to moderate rain due to the low pressure which is likely to trigger rainfall at many places in the southern part of the state over the next two days.
Heavy rain is forecast for some areas of East and West Midnapore, Jhargram, Purulia, Bankura, North and South 24 Parganas, East and West Burdwan, Howrah and Hooghly districts, a Met official said.

In Assam, the flood water has been receding for the past few days and only over 11,000 people were affected by the deluge in just two districts – Dhemaji and Baksa – on Thursday. Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) in its bulletin said that Lakhimpur and Biswanath districts are also inundated now, and the number of people hit by the calamity increased to 29,603.

The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained closed for the second consecutive day on Friday due to a massive landslide triggered by heavy rains in the union territory’s Ramban district. Vehicular traffic on the 270-km highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, was suspended, leaving hundreds of trucks and other vehicles stranded.

In Uttar Pradesh, more than 650 villages in 15 districts are affected by floods and 384 of them have been cut off from other parts of the state even as light to moderate rain and thundershowers occurred at most places in western part of the state and at many places over the eastern part on Friday.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed officials to ensure cleaning and cutting of bushes near relief camps to prevent people from incidents of snakebites, Goyal said.

A day after most parts of Haryana and some parts of Punjab were lashed by rains, the maximum temperatures hovered close to normal in both the states on Friday.

Rain or thundershowers are likely at a few places in Haryana and Punjab over the next two days, the weather department said.