Heavy Rain Alert In 8 States Today, Flood Situation May Worsen

Flood situation is being witnessed in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Assam, and Uttar Pradesh. Besides, inflow forecast has been issued for 31 dams and barrages in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

In Maharashtra, schools and colleges will remain shut in Palghar, Pune city and neighbouring Chinchwad today due to heavy rain forecast. A man and his daughter died in a landslide in Vasai city of Palghar district yesterday. Besides, four persons were swept away by floodwaters in Gondia district.

At least 30 reservoirs in Gujarat have crossed 70 per cent capacity due to heavy rains. A red alert has been issued by the Met department which predicted heavy rainfall in Saurashtra and south Gujarat districts till Thursday. Rajkot, Gir Somnath, Jamnagar, Bharuch, Kutch and Navsari are among the parts of the state that has been receiving heavy rainfall.

A red alert warning heavy rain has been sounded for the next 24 hours in all districts in Madhya Pradesh's Narmadapuram divisions. An orange alert for heavy to very heavy rains has been sounded for more than 25 districts, including 11 in Bhopal and Ujjain divisions. Betul and Harda are the worst affected districts in the state with many rivers in spate.

In Telangana, a red alert has been issued at Kaddem project in Nirmal district as Godavari River crossed the flood level mark. The residents of 12 villages downstream have been evacuated in view of huge inflows. The river also crossed the third level danger mark at Bhadrachalam. The water outflow in Godavari stands at 3 lakh cusecs as against an inflow of 5 lakh cusecs, in what has been termed as an 'once in 500 years' phenomenon by experts.

Telangana received 219.7 mm, or 455% excess, rainfall in the last five days. Red alert has been extended for 12 districts and orange alert in seven. There is a yellow warning in Hyderabad which is receiving light to moderate rains. Schools will remain shut for rest of the week in the state. Besides 12 deaths in rain related incidents in Telangana, two Singareni rescue workers and a journalist working with a Telugu news channel are among those missing.

The administration in Andhra Pradesh is keeping a close watch on East Godavari, Alluri Sitharamaraju and Eluru districts as the Godavari river is overflowing and the inflows at Dowleshwaram exceeded 15 lakh cusecs in the first half of July, for the first time in 100 years.

Meanwhile, several parts of coastal Karnataka and Malnad are facing a flood-like situation with rivers swelling and dams reaching the brim due to heavy rainfall. Landslides have been reported too. Heritage sites of Hampi are under a risk of getting inundated with the Tungabhadra dam almost reaching its capacity. Rs 500 crore will be released immediately to restore the basic infrastructure, said Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. Precautionary measures have been put in place and state and central rescue teams are on standby.

Schools in four taluks of Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu, besides Valparai hill town in Coimbatore, have announced a holiday today due to thunderstorm and light to moderate rain forecast. A flood alert has also been issued in Hogenakkal in Dharmapuri district for the fifth day.

In Odisha, the India Meteorological Department has predicted heavy to very heavy rains in nine southern districts. The coastal districts are already receiving heavy rain and a landslide was also reported from Gajapati district in which at least 10 houses were damaged.