Heavy rain to intensify over Northeast, Himalayan foothills; IMD warns of flash flood risk
The IMD has forecast heavy to very heavy rain across the Northeast and Himalayan foothills over the next five days, while warning of flash floods in parts of the northern hills and southern India.
RAINFALL activity is set to intensify over northeast India and the foothills of the central and eastern Himalayas over the next four to five days, while easing across south peninsular India, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday.
The weather office has forecast isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall across the Northeast over the next five days and along the Himalayan foothills over the next four to five days. In the south, rainfall activity is expected to weaken, although coastal and south interior Karnataka may continue to receive isolated heavy to very heavy showers over the next two days.
Regional outlook
In the Northeast, fairly widespread to widespread rainfall is likely over Arunachal Pradesh on 5 August, while Assam and Meghalaya are expected to receive widespread rain between 3 and 5 August. Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura are likely to witness widespread rainfall from 3 to 8 August.
Rainfall activity over Arunachal Pradesh and Assam-Meghalaya is expected to ease to isolated to scattered showers during 3-4 August and 6-8 August.
In northwest India, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad are likely to receive widespread rainfall between 3 and 6 August and again on 8 August. Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are expected to witness widespread rain throughout 3-8 August.
The IMD has also forecast widespread rainfall over Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Punjab during 3-6 August, east Uttar Pradesh during 3-7 August, and west Uttar Pradesh during 4-7 August, signalling active monsoon conditions across northern India.
Flood alert
Amid the widespread rainfall, the IMD has issued a low to moderate flash flood risk warning for parts of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh and Uttarakhand over the next 24 hours. It cautioned that surface runoff and inundation could occur in low-lying areas due to saturated soil conditions.
A similar flash flood risk has been flagged for districts in Kerala and coastal and south interior Karnataka, where continued heavy rainfall may trigger localised flooding and waterlogging. Residents in vulnerable areas have been advised to remain alert and follow local administration advisories.
Meanwhile, during the past 24 hours, extremely heavy rainfall of 21 cm or more was recorded over east Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and coastal and south interior Karnataka.
Very heavy rainfall (12-20 cm) was reported in Saurashtra and Madhya Maharashtra, while heavy rainfall (7-11 cm) occurred across parts of Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Odisha, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Konkan and north interior Karnataka.
