The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for parts of Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Goa for Saturday, predicting heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in these regions. Intense rainfall is expected to continue across Gujarat and southern peninsular India till Sunday.
The low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal developed into a depression on Tuesday, moving towards Odisha. This system is currently near Puri, Gopalpur, and Paradip, gradually shifting northwest.
“The system is anticipated to move northwestward, crossing the Odisha coast near Puri as a depression on Saturday morning. It will then proceed west-northwestward across Odisha and Chhattisgarh, gradually weakening,” according to IMD’s Friday forecast.
In light of this movement, the IMD has issued a red alert for Telangana, central Maharashtra, coastal Goa, and Gujarat for Saturday. An orange alert is in place for Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Kutch, and Saurashtra for the weekend.
Rainfall of 115-120 mm is expected in these areas over the next 24 hours. Additionally, moderate to heavy rain is forecasted for Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and eastern Rajasthan over the next three days.
The IMD has also issued a ‘signal 3’ warning for coastal Andhra Pradesh, indicating a possible cyclonic storm, affecting ports in Kalingapatnam, Visakhapatnam, and Kakinada.
Heavy rainfall on Friday affected Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh, leading to school closures in several areas due to flooding.
Meanwhile, Delhi-NCR is expected to experience light, isolated showers over the next three days, with a maximum temperature around 36 degrees Celsius on Saturday. Light rain is also forecasted for the capital on July 21 and 22.
As of July 19, the all-India rainfall totalled 324.4 mm from June 1, which is 98 percent of the normal amount for this period. At least 15 states and Union Territories have recorded normal or above-normal rainfall so far.
