The death toll in flood-hit Maharashtra rose to 207 and heavy rains coupled with discharge of water from the Koyna dam forced the evacuation of millions of people while the northern states received widespread showers with Delhi recording the highest rainfall in a day for July in eight years. The meteorological department has forecast heavy rain in Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal under the influence of a low pressure that has formed over the Bay of Bengal.
Monsoon may have arrived late in Delhi, but it is inundating the capital now. The city has recorded 381 mm rainfall so far this month, the highest for July since 2003 and the second-highest ever. The Safdarjung Observatory recorded 100 mm rainfall in just three hours last week, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
It is also the maximum rainfall in 24 hours in the month of July in eight years. In 2013, Delhi had received 123.4 mm rains on July 21. The monsoon, the most delayed in 19 years, is now drenching Delhi, flooding low-lying areas and causing long traffic snarls.
16 dead in J&K and Himachal
At least 16 people have died and 20 others were either injured or reported missing in two separate incidents of cloud bursts in Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir and Lahaul-Spiti in Himachal Pradesh, even as heavy rains brought life to standstill in several parts of northern India. The Jammu and Kashmir administration deployed Indian Army and state disaster relief force personnel at Honzar village in Kishtwar district after a cloudburst damaged over half a dozen houses in the area.
While seven bodies have been found from the debris, 12 others are feared trapped. Additional director general of police, Mukesh Singh, said of the 17 rescued, five were critical and have been shifted to government hospital in Kishtwar. “Army is assisting local police in the rescue operations,” he said.
About 100 villagers in Honzar were caught unaware when a gush of water came down from a neighbouring monsoon stream very early in the morning when most were asleep, Singh said. Most of the houses that got swept away were on the side of the stream, he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet that the Central government is closely monitoring the situation in the wake of the cloudbursts in Kishtwar and Kargil and all the possible assistance is being made available in the affected areas. Union home minister Amit Shah also spoke to the lieutenant governor (L-G) & Jammu & Kashmir’s director general of police (DGP) regarding the incident, officials said.
Ladakh
In two simultaneous cloudbursts, a mini power plant was badly damaged in Kargil area of the Union territory of Ladakh. In addition, several residential houses and standing crops were also damaged in the region, officials said, adding there was no report of loss of human life in the cloudbursts, which struck Sangra and Khangral.
Uttarakhand
Mini cloud bursts leading to heavy rains were reported from Chamoli in Uttarakhand even as the rest of the state got heavy rains, leading to several landslides and blockade of traffic. In Almora district, a home guard jawan was swept away while riding home on his scooter. Continuous heavy rains caused water logging in low lying areas of Dehradun, where a culvert was damaged in Bakrawala area. The water logging damaged several houses in the capital city. Due to heavy rains, tourists were also stopped from going to the popular tourist spot of Kempty Falls near Mussoorie.
Not just Delhi, heavy rains also lashed Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar. The IMD has predicted heavy rainfall across northern India and several areas of Madhya Maharashtra, Kokan and Goa for the next two days.
