India (Commonwealth Union)_ Widespread showers persisted across various regions of the country, marked by a cloudburst occurrence in Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir, and torrential downpours leading to rivers overflowing in Uttarakhand. In Gujarat, towns such as Rajkot and Gir Somnath continued to grapple with flooding, while the India Meteorological Department issued predictions of heavy rainfall in the western and central parts of India for the following four days.
The impact of incessant rainfall has been tragically felt in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region, where at least 16 people lost their lives in rain-related incidents during the past ten days, including three fatalities in the Yavatmal district. In Karnataka’s Belagavi district, two individuals lost their lives, and 15 others sustained injuries due to the heavy rains since Tuesday, compounded by water flowing in from Maharashtra.
Though the intensity of the rains in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh subdued on Sunday compared to the previous days, substantial portions of these Himalayan states remained inaccessible as landslides blocked approximately 700 roads in Himachal Pradesh and 330 in Uttarakhand. The major rivers in these states, including the Ganga in Uttarakhand and the Sutlej in Himachal Pradesh, continued to surge dangerously, and the prospects of further rainfall in the next four days pose the risk of exacerbating the situation, as asserted by an anonymous official from the Himachal disaster management department.
According to Gurdeep Singh, the chief agriculture officer in Kupwara, the Keran sector in Kupwara, Jammu, and Kashmir also experienced a cloudburst, as reported. Fortunately, there have been no casualties or damage. According to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra, faced with damage to almost 4,500 houses due to the persistent heavy rains, remained on high alert to manage the issues arising from the excessive precipitation. The state is bracing itself for further heavy rains over the next four days.
In Gujarat, floodwaters started to recede in Junagadh district as authorities successfully relocated nearly 3,000 individuals to safer areas. However, the weather office issued an orange alert for the state, warning of the likelihood of “heavy to very heavy rainfall” on July 24. Additionally, Devbhumi Dwarka, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, and Valsad districts were anticipated to receive heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in the next 24 hours.
Moving to Rajasthan, moderate rainfall was recorded in the southwestern and western districts, while Jodhpur experienced heavy rainfall resulting in waterlogging, including in the chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s hometown. The Meteorological Department’s director in Jaipur, Radhe Shyam Sharma, informed that the monsoon activity is expected to remain active for the next three to four days before subsiding. This phenomenon was attributed to a low-pressure area that formed over West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and West Rajasthan, leading to a substantial amount of rainfall in the state.
