Weather Updates: Amidst the monsoon season, the India Meteorological Departnment (IMD), in its latest bulletin on Saturday, has predicted that several states across the country are likely to receive heavy rainfall in the coming days. Rain alerts have been sounded for various states including Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. In Delhi, the IMD has predicted light to moderate showers accompanied by thunderstorms.
In Kerala, the IMD has issued an orange alert predicting heavy and widespread rainfall for August 3 and 4. The weather office said that showers are likely to continue in the state throughout the week. This comes as Wayanad district in the state reels under the devastation caused by landslides that claimed lives of over 300 people.
On Thursday, IMD chief Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said that the weather office issued regular forecasts for significant rainfall activity along the west coast of India and a red alert for Kerala in the early morning of July 30, the day Wayanad district was hit by landslides that killed more than 150 people. Kerala had been witnessing continuous rainfall activity and "accumulation of rainfall" is also an important factor behind landslides, he said.
The IMD chief said that an orange warning means "be prepared for action and one should not wait for red warnings." Similarly, warnings were in place for Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, he said.
As far as Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, where the incidents of cloudbursts have wreaked havoc, are concerned the weather office has predicted more showers in the coming days. In Uttarakhand, the IMD has issued an orange alert till August 8 signalling heavy rainfall.
Rain Prediction In Other States
The IMD has said that several states including Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa are likely to receive extremely heavy to heavy rainfall for the next two to three days. The weather office has also issued an orange alert for parts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh predicting very heavy rainfall in the region.
The weather office has issued a red alert for northwest Jharkhand for today, predicting extremely heavy downpours in the region. The IMD has sounded an orange alert for the remaining parts of the state.
Meanwhile, the IMD has issued an orange alert for Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, and Bihar till August 6. It has made similar predictions for Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.