Incessant rains claimed two more lives in Odisha on Friday while the IMD issued a red alert for extremely heavy rainfall in six districts of Madhya Pradesh even as a steady downpour led to waterlogging and traffic snarls in Delhi. The flood situation in Uttar Pradesh improved further as the number of affected villages came down even as one more district was declared flood-hit, while Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha toured Srinagar to assess flood preparations following torrential rains.
The downpour in the national capital brought respite from the humidity but Delhiites experienced traffic woes and waterlogging. According to the Met department, the Safdarjung Observatory recorded 23.2 mm rainfall while Palam recorded 35.8 mm rainfall between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm. The Lodhi Road and Ridge areas received 23.6 mm and 44 mm rainfall respectively in the said period.
The minimum temperature in the city was recorded at 26.8 degrees Celsius, a notch above the season's average. The maximum temperature was recorded at 32.8 degrees Celsius with the weatherman forecasting light rain for Saturday. Waterlogging was reported from some parts of the city, including Janpath, Indraprastha and Minto Bridge. Commuters experienced traffic snarls near the ITO, central Delhi and east Delhi due to waterlogging.
In north Delhi, waterlogging took place at seven different locations in areas, including Karala, Burari and Prem Nagar. Trees fell at four different locations, according to the North Delhi Municipal Corporation. In areas falling under the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, water stagnation was recorded at Devli Extension, Nizamuddin West Market, among other places while trees got uprooted at seven different locations, including Madangir, Maharani Bagh and Saket Court area.
The water level of the Yamuna in Delhi rose to 204.41 metres on Friday, precariously close to the warning mark of 204.50 metres following heavy rains in the national capital and neighbouring areas. In Odisha, fear of flood looms large in the Mahanadi river system following heavy rainfall in its upper catchment areas in Chhatisgarh and a rise in the water level of Hirakud Dam even as two more people died in rain-related incidents in the state, raising the death toll to nine.
Forty of the 64 sluice gates of the Hirakud Dam, built across the Mahanadi near Sambalpur in Odisha, were opened by the authorities on Friday to discharge excess water. The flood in the Mahanadi river system is likely to affect coastal districts like Puri, Khurda, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Nayagarh districts. Many other rivers are in spate submerging low-lying areas and snapping road connectivity. Meanwhile, the intensity of rainfall has subsided considerably in the state since Thursday. Formation of a low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal had triggered heavy downpour in Odisha since Monday.
However, in Madhya Pradesh, a red alert stating extremely heavy rainfall was likely in six districts of the state was issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) amid incessant downpour that continued to lash large parts of the state on Friday. The red alert was issued for isolated places in Narsinghpur, Chhindwara, Seoni, Balaghat, Betul and Hoshangabad districts.
Apart from this, the IMD issued an orange alert predicting very heavy rainfall, thunderstorm and lightning at isolated places of 10 districts, including Jabalpur and districts of Sagar division. Moreover, a yellow alert forecast of heavy rainfall, thunderstorm and lightning has been issued for a few places in nine districts including Bhopal and Gwalior.
All three alerts are valid till Saturday morning. The IMD issues colour-coded warnings depending on the intensity of any weather system in ascending order – green, yellow, orange and red.
While the flood situation in Uttar Pradesh improved further on Friday, parts of the state received light to moderate rainfall with the IMD forecasting more showers on Saturday."There are 18 districts affected by flood. In these districts 830 villages are flood affected and 477 are marooned," Relief Commissiosner, Sanjay Goel told reporters.
Till Thursday, there were 17 flood-hit districts, where 893 villages were affected, of which 562 were marooned. The relief commissioner said the Sharda river at Palia Kalan in Lakhimpur Kheri, Rapti river in Shravasti and the Saryu Ayodhya and Turtipar in Ballia were flowing above the danger mark. According to the Met office forecast, thunderstorm accompanied by lightning is very likely at isolated places over eastern part of the state, while rain/thundershower is very likely at many places over western Uttar Pradesh on Saturday. Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha conducted a whirlwind tour of Srinagar city to assess the flood preparations and emergency response mechanism being put in place to deal with any eventuality that may arise out of torrential rains.
During his tour, the Lt governor visited Zero Bridge, Munshi Bagh gauge, flood control rooms of irrigation and flood control near wooden bridge, emergency operation centre at Hari Niwas and took a first-hand appraisal of the situation, he said. Srinagar has been witnessing torrential rains over the past few days.
Some parts of Haryana and Punjab too received rain on Friday as the maximum temperature in both the states hovered around normal limits. Chandigarh, the common capital of both states, recorded a high of 32 degrees Celsius after light rain lashed the city.
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