3 dead in rain-related incident in Haryana, several states see widespread downpour
Three children were killed in a rain-related incident in Haryana’s Panchkula on Wednesday as it poured down at many places in northern India, disrupting road traffic and rail movement in a few areas.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned of “heavy to very heavy rainfall” at isolated places in coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and “heavy rainfall” at isolated places in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, east Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, in addition to parts of east and northeast India, on Thursday.
Parts of Delhi-NCR recorded rains in the afternoon that led to waterlogging at several places. Huge traffic snarls were seen in parts of Delhi, including in South, Central, North and New Delhi districts, besides in Noida and Gurugram.
Waterlogging disrupted traffic movement across Gurugram, including on the Delhi-Jaipur highway. Several areas of the city, including old Gurugram, were inundated.
IMD has issued a “yellow” alert for Delhi, warning of bad weather and the possibility of worsening conditions that could disrupt daily life.
In Haryana, three children were killed when a wall of a brick kiln collapsed on them while they were taking shelter during heavy rains in Panchkula.
The oldest of the three was a seven-year-old girl and the other two were boys — aged five and two-and-a-half years — according to police. Their parents work at the kiln. The children were playing nearby when it began raining.
The children took shelter close to a wall, which suddenly collapsed, trapping them under the debris, police said.
In the north-eastern part of the country, one person was killed and several were reported missing after heavy rainfall on Tuesday night damaged houses and major portions of NH-29 in Nagaland’s Chumoukedima district.
A portion of NH-29, which connects the state capital Kohima with commercial hub Dimapur, has been completely washed away, according to officials.
In Maharashtra, a primary assessment of the damage suffered in the Marathwada region due to torrential rainfall over the last three days has shown that 10 persons have been killed and crops on nearly 11.67 lakh hectares of land in seven districts destroyed.
Nanded witnessed the maximum impact of nature’s fury, authorities observed.
The downpour has also led to the death of 523 animals and caused damage to 1,126 houses in the region.
Among the states in the north, continuous rains in Himachal Pradesh have led to the closure of 119 roads, including two national highways, while the weather office in Shimla has warned of low to moderate flash flood risk in parts of six districts.
It also issued a ‘yellow’ alert of heavy rains, thunderstorms and lightning at isolated places.
The weather office said Kasauli recorded 88 mm of downpour, followed by Dharamshala with 75.6 mm, Kandaghat 66 mm, Kataula 65.2 mm, Dhaulakuan 58 mm, Shimla 54.1 mm, Bilaspur 50.8 mm, Naina Devi 42.6 mm, Malraon 40 mm and Jubbarhatti 31.6 mm.
A total of 153 persons have died in rain-related incidents during the ongoing monsoon season from June 27 and the state has suffered losses to the tune of Rs 1,271 crore, officials said.
In Rajasthan, there was heavy rainfall in many areas of Jodhpur, Sirohi and Udaipur districts during the day.
According to the Jaipur meteorological centre, Jodhpur city recorded 90.6 mm of downpour, Sirohi 70 mm, Mount Abu 25 mm, Karauli 22.5 mm, Vanasthali 21 mm, Barmer 19.2 mm and Anta 10 mm.
It also said that there was a strong possibility of the monsoon remaining active in most parts of eastern Rajasthan for the next four to five days and heavy rain activities continuing at some places.
Earlier in the day, a North Western Railway official said five trains were cancelled in the state, two partially cancelled and the route of another was changed due to damage to the Jodhpur-Jaisalmer railway track following the heavy showers in the 24-hour period till Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, the Telangana government has stepped up relief measures at Khammam and other places hit by heavy rains and floods, and also issued the first warning for floods at the temple town of Bhadrachalam.
Bhadrachalam is home to a famous Lord Ram temple, hailed as the ‘Ayodhya of the south’.
The meteorological centre of IMD in Hyderabad said heavy to very heavy rain is very likely to occur at isolated places in Jayashankar Bhupalpally and Mulugu districts on August 5.
At least 16 people have lost their lives in rain-related incidents as heavy downpours lashed several parts of Telangana for three days beginning August 31.
In its weather bulletin for the day, IMD said most places in Gujarat and Konkan and Goa recorded rainfall between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm.
It said there was rainfall at many places in Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana during the same period.
IMD added that downpour was also observed at a few places in Uttarakhand, Bihar, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, Odisha, Madhya Maharashtra and coastal Karnataka; and at isolated places in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh-Gilgit-Baltistan, Haryana-Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Gangetic West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Marathwada, interior Karnataka, Kerala and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
