Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 9: Heavy rainfall in the last two days have taken a toll of more than a dozen lives across India, including nine in Himachal Pradesh alone, even as the bountiful of rains in the first week of July turned the 10 per cent rainfall shortage to more than two per cent surplus.
Though there had been large-scale regional variations in rainfall, the Indian Meteorological Department data showed the rainfall in the country in the current monsoon has reached 243.2 mm on Sunday, which was about two per cent above the normal of 239.1 mm by this time.
The weather office has predicted more showers over the next couple of days. The IMD has cautioned of heavy to extremely heavy rain for most parts of North India particularly Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. The IMD said a western disturbance prevailed over northern India, leading to an intense spell of rain yesterday, including Delhi which experienced the season’s first heavy rain recording 153 mm, the highest in a single day in July in the last 40 years, leading to waterlogging and traffic jams in several parts of the national capital. Heavy rain continued in Delhi and its adjoining areas on Sunday as well. Several parts of Gurugram also experienced waterlogging and power outages.
A 58-year-old woman was killed in Delhi when the ceiling of her flat came crashing down on her, while four people died in rain-related incidents in Rajasthan.
A woman and her six-year-old daughter were killed in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar early this morning after their house collapsed due to heavy rain. Three of a family were killed in Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla in a similar incident.
In Jammu and Kashmir, two Army soldiers died after being swept away in flash floods in the Poonch district on Saturday. The IMD has predicted very heavy rainfall in more than nine districts of Rajasthan, including, Rajsamand, Jalore, Pali, Ajmer, Alwar, Banswara, Bharatpur, Bhilwara, Bundi, Chittorgarh, Dausa, Dhaulpur, Jaipur and Kota.
The annual Amarnath Yatra has been suspended for the third consecutive day today following incessant rains and landslides. About 3,000 vehicles are stranded along the Srinagar- Jammu Highway, where a portion of the road caved in on Saturday.
Down south, incessant rains pounded many areas of Kerala and Karnataka as well. The IMD has issued a “yellow” alert in four districts of Kerala — Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod.
The weather office has issued a “red” alert for seven Himachal Pradesh districts after landslides and flash floods blocked several roads in Shimla, Sirmaur, Lahaul and Spiti, Chamba and Solan. Heavy rainfall continued to wreak havoc in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, triggering landslides, damaging houses and leaving at least nine people dead.
Three members of a family were killed in a house collapse after a landslide in Shimla district’s Kotgarh area. In Kullu town, a landslide damaged a makeshift house, leaving a woman dead. In another incident, a person was buried alive following a landslide in Katiyan tehsil of Chamba on Saturday night.
Amid the surging of the river and falling of stones on the Kullu-Manali road, the movement of vehicles from Kullu and Manali towards Atal Tunnel and Rohtang has been completely stopped, the police said. As many as thirteen landslides and nine flash floods have been reported in the state in the past 36 hours, while 736 roads have been closed for traffic.
Three people were killed and three others were missing after a vehicle hit by a landslide fell into the Ganga River in Tehri Garhwal district on Sunday, officials said. The vehicle was carrying 11 people, including the driver, police said, adding five of them were rescued and admitted to a government hospital in Rishikesh. They were on their way to Rishikesh from Kedarnath.
A portion of the national highway in Kullu district washed away as the Beas river breached the danger mark. Heavy rain lashed several parts of Haryana and Punjab also as the mercury dropped below normal limits in the two states, the weather office said. Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, witnessed rain throughout the day.
The Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal cancelled the Sunday leave of all government officials and instructed them to be on the field. Delhi Cabinet ministers and Mayor Shelly Oberoi will be inspecting the “problem areas” in the city, said the Chief Minister. The weather office has issued a forecast of high-intensity rain for 2-3 days in Delhi. The key Pragati Maidan and Minto Road underpasses were closed for vehicular movement due to waterlogging.
A portion of the Leh-Manali national highway (NH3) was washed away due to the overflowing Beas River. A team of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) on Sunday evacuated five people who were trapped in their homes due to the rise in the water level of the Beas river near Kullu.
The IMD has issued a ‘red’ alert for seven districts including Chamba, Kangra, Kullu, Mandi, Una, Hamirpur and Bilaspur districts on July 8 and 9. An ‘orange’ alert has been issued for Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur districts.
The Met department has warned of isolated extremely heavy rain in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand throughout Saturday and Sunday.
While northern parts of the country received heavy downpour, the eastern and north-eastern regions have recorded a deficiency of 17% (375.3 mm against a normal of 454 mm), north India has witnessed 59% excess rainfall (199.7 mm against a normal of 125.5%), the latest IMD data showed.
Central India, where a large number of farmers rely on monsoonal rains, has recorded 264.9 mm rainfall against a normal of 255.1 mm, an excess of 4%. The rainfall deficiency in south India has reduced from 45% to 23%.
At the end of June, the cumulative rainfall for the entire country was 148.6 mm, which was 10% below the normal precipitation. However, the recent rains have significantly improved the situation. The IMD had earlier predicted normal rainfall in July, ranging from 94 to 106% of the long-period average. However, below-normal precipitation is expected in many areas of northwest, northeast and southeast peninsular India.
The incessant rains over northwest India since Saturday have set all-time records at many places. While Delhi recorded 153 mm rainfall in a 24-hour period ending at 8:30 am on Sunday, the highest in a single day in July since 1982, Chandigarh and Ambala reported record rainfall of 322.2 mm and 224.1 mm respectively. Many areas in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, coastal Karnataka and Gujarat have recorded “heavy to very heavy” precipitation.
Four persons, including two soldiers, died in J&K due to rains, which triggered landslips and flash floods in the past 24 hours. According to an Army spokesman, two soldiers drowned during an area domination patrol in the difficult terrain of Poonch in the Jammu division on Saturday.
“Lance Naik Telu Ram while crossing a mountainous stream got swept away due to flash floods. Naib Subedar Kuldeep Singh, the patrol leader, while attempting to save Ram also laid down his life,” an Army spokesman said. The soldiers were washed away in flash floods on Saturday afternoon and both the bodies have been retrieved. The soldiers were manning an area in Poshana area of Surankote sub-division in Poonch along the Mughal Road, the army said.