IMD warns of heavy rain over central and peninsular India over weekend

Depression to shift landward and move across Odisha-Chhattisgarh

Heavy rain in South Mumbai on Friday. (Express Photo By Ganesh Shirsekar)

3 min readBengaluruJul 20, 2024 08:17 AM IST First published on: Jul 20, 2024 at 12:51 AM IST

The entire central India spanning Gujarat to Odisha and south peninsular India are bracing for intense rainfall till Sunday.

However, Kerala and Tamil Nadu may not be affected during the period.

Monday’s well-marked low pressure system over west Bay of Bengal intensified into a depression on Tuesday morning. The system moved towards west-central Bay of Bengal, off Odisha, and was located close to Puri, Gopalpur and Paradip.

“The system is expected to move northwestwards and cross the Odisha coast, near Puri, as a depression on Saturday morning. Thereafter, it would further move west-northwestwards across Odisha-Chhattisgarh and weaken gradually,” the forecast issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday said.

Also Read | Gujarat gears up for heavy rainfall until next week, red alert for several districts today

In view of this depression and its subsequent landward movement, the Met office has issued a ‘red’ alert for Telangana, Vidarbha, Madhya Maharashtra, Konkan and Gujarat for Saturday. An ‘orange’ alert prevails for Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Kutch and Saurashtra. Heavy to very heavy rainfall (115-204mm in 24 hours) is likely to affect these areas over the weekend. Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat and eastern Rajasthan will be affected by the approaching system during the next three days, the IMD’s forecast said.

Other weather systems, too, are predominant and have continuously keept the monsoon activ. On Friday, the monsoon trough, which has remained to the south of its normal position, persisted. It is expected to persist over the same region during the next two to three days ; the wind shear zone between central and peninsular India and an off-shore trough near Saurashtra, which has caused ‘exceptionally’ heavy rainfall over Kutch-Saurashtra during the last two days.

During June 1 – July 19, the all-India rainfall stood at 324.4mm, which was quantitatively 98 per cent of normal for this time of the season. Atleast 15 states or union territories have, so far, recorded normal or above rainfall.

Porbandar records 490 mm, wettest July day in over six decades

Porbandar in Gujarat Friday received 490mm (24 hours), setting a new rainfall record for the town. It was the wettest July day for Porbandar since 1961. The previous highest single-day record here was 444.3mm on July 16, 2009. Rainfall records maintained by IMD (1961 – 2023) suggest that Porbandar has previously also experienced such heavy rainfall spells in July, with intense rainfall recorded in 318mm (1998), 292mm (2020), 252.6mm (1969).

Since the past few days, torrential rains have lashed several areas across Gujarat, with Gir and Junagarh areas reporting severe flooding. According to the forecasts, there is no respite from heavy rainfall for Gujarat until July 23. Other areas in Gujarat where heavy to very heavy rainfall was reported on Friday included Kalyanpur (290mm), Vanthali and Keshod (250mm), Ranavav (240mm), Patan-Veraval (190mm), Veraval (140mm).