Orange Alert Issued for Coastal Areas of Maharashtra; 89,000 People Hit by Floods in Meghalaya's West Garo Hills

New Delhi, July 14: Rainfall lashed parts of northern India and floods affected 89,000 people in Meghalaya's West Garo Hills district, while IMD issued an orange alert for coastal districts in Maharashtra, stating 'heavy to very heavy rainfall' was likely in isolated areas. In Delhi, however, rains continued to play truant as hot and humid weather caused inconvenience to the residents in the national capital.

The Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative figures for the city, recorded a maximum of 38.5 degrees Celsius, three notches more than normal. Mercury oscillated between 37 degrees Celsius and 40 degrees Celsius in the rest of the areas. Bihar Rains: Part of School Building Collapses Into Koshi River in Bhagalpur District Following Heavy Rainfall & Floods; Watch Video.

The maximum temperature is likely to remain in the higher 30s for the next few days, as only isolated light rains are expected during this period, the weatherman said. Despite the monsoon arriving early in the national capital, rains have remained subdued so far, with the city recording 46 percent rainfall deficiency.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert for Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and other coastal districts in Maharashtra stating it is very likely that 'heavy to very heavy' rainfall will occur in isolated places in this region.

The orange alert by the the IMD's Mumbai centre is also for coastal districts like Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg as well as Pune in western Maharashtra.

A yellow alert for Kolhapur, Satara, Aurangabad and Jalna districts has also been issued.

"Orange and yellow alerts have been issued for Tuesday and Wednesday for central Maharashtra, Marathwada and Konkan regions," an IMD official said. "On Wednesday, in Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, Palghar, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected. In some districts of central Maharashtra and Marathwada, heavy rainfall is expected," the official said.

An orange alert means the authorities should "be prepared", while a yellow warning asks them to "be updated". Over 89,000 people have been affected by floods in Meghalaya's West Garo Hills district. The Jinjiram river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra was overflowing, officials said.

"The situation is bad and three blocks - Tikrikilla, Demdema and Selsella have been affected... The situation is being monitored," District Deputy Commissioner Ram Singh said. The deputy commissioner that a total of at least 16,400 households with a population of over 89,000 have been affected by the current floods.

As per latest reports, the blocks of Tikrikilla, Demdema and Selsella have seen a huge surge in water levels. The villages of Charbatapara, Moulakandi, Patharkata under Demdema Block, Rajpur, many sections of Old and New Bhaitbari, Rajabala, Chokchokia, Selsella have been affected, according to the district administration.

Many sections of the AMPT (Agia, Medhipara, Phulbari, Tura) road was also submerged as well as many PWD roads across the three blocks with Selsella - Tura road being amongst the worst affected, a PWD official said. Light to moderate rains lashed parts of Rajasthan where isolated areas also received heavy rains.

Loharia in Banswara and Veja in Dungapur each recorded a maximum of 8 cm rains in the last 24 hours till Tuesday morning. Dausa, Chomu and Amer (both in Jaipur) recorded 7, 6 and 5 cm rains respectively during this period, according to the Met Department here.

Ajmer, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh and Dabok (Udaipur) also received 25, 7, 4 and 1.6 mm rains till Tuesday evening since morning. The department has predicted light to moderate rains at several places, with the possibility of heavy rains at isolated areas in the state during the next 24 hours.

Light to moderate rainfall occurred at many places in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, the Meteorological Department said. It said some isolated places in eastern UP even received heavy rain.

The MeT Department has predicted rain or thundershower at several places in eastern UP and at a few places in western part of the state from Wednesday to Friday. Meanwhile, sultry weather conditions prevailed in Haryana and Punjab on Tuesday, with maximum temperatures settling one to three notches above normal, the Meteorological Department here said.

Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, recorded a high of 36.1 degrees Celsius. In Haryana, Ambala recorded a maximum temperature of 36.2 degrees Celsius, while Hisar registered a high of 37.4 degrees Celsius.

Bhiwani experienced a hot day with the mercury settling at an uncomfortable 40.1 degrees Celsius. Karnal recorded a maximum temperature of 35.4 degrees Celsius, while Narnaul registered a high of 38.2 degrees Celsius. In Punjab, Amritsar recorded a maximum temperature of 37.4 degrees Celsius. Ludhiana registered a high of 36.1 degrees Celsius and Patiala's maximum temperature settled at 37.3 degrees Celsius.

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