IMD issues warning for heavy rainfall in Himachal, other states till July 19

IMD has issued a yellow warning for Himachal Pradesh for heavy rainfall, thunderstorm, and lightning in the plains, low hills and middle hills on Saturday.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a fresh warning of heavy rainfall in Himachal Pradesh over the next six to seven days, news agency PTI reported. The Himachal Pradesh Met office has already issued a yellow warning to the state for heavy rainfall, thunderstorm, and lightning in the plains, low hills and middle hills on Saturday. An orange warning has been issued for July 18 to 20, the PTI report added.

The death toll due to rain-triggered flash floods in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district has climbed up to nine, even as several remain missing.

Meanwhile, various pockets of the state received light to moderate rainfall on Friday, with Sarkaghat gauging 86mn of rainfall, followed by 52mn in Nadaun, the met office stated.

The IMD alerts come at a time when the death toll due to rain-triggered flash floods in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district went up to nine, even as several remain missing. The body of Subhash Chand, 70, was dug out of the debris on Thursday, two days after the body of his only son, Shiv Prasad, was recovered.

Apart from Himachal Pradesh, IMD has predicted heavy rainfall over several other states and Union territories (UTs). These include Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Delhi among others. IMD also said that moderate to severe thunderstorms with lightning are very likely at isolated pockets of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and south Rajasthan on Saturday, PTI reported. Such weather may cause injuries and even lead to casualties to people and animals staying outdoors, the report added.

Here are the latest weather alerts issued by IMD:

1. Heavy to very heavy rainfall is very likely to increase over the western Himalayan region and Uttar Pradesh from July 17 to 20. The same weather alert has been issued for Punjab, Haryana, north Madhya Pradesh and east Rajasthan from July 18 to 20, IMD’s Saturday morning bulletin stated.

2. Isolated heavy rainfall is likely over Delhi on July 18, and isolated extremely heavy rainfall is likely over Uttarakhand on July 18 and 19, and Jammu on July 19.

3. West coast of India and the remaining parts of west peninsular India, barring Gujarat, are very likely to receive fairly widespread to widespread rainfall over the next five to six days.

4. Goa, Konkan, central Maharashtra, Mahe in Puducherry, Kerala, and Karnataka are very likely to receive isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall during the next five to six days.

5. Widespread rainfall with isolated heavy rainfall is likely over northeast India, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, and Sikkim till July 19. The IMD bulletin said that the intensity and distribution of rainfall in these areas will decrease after July 19.