The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for parts of Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Goa, predicting heavy to extremely heavy rainfall for Saturday. According to the latest forecast, intense rainfall is expected to continue lashing Gujarat and southern peninsular India until Sunday.
The weather disturbance began with a low-pressure area forming over the Bay of Bengal, which developed into a depression on Tuesday. This depression is currently located near the coastal areas of Puri, Gopalpur, and Paradip in Odisha and is gradually moving northwest.
“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 and Chhattisgarh and weaken gradually,” stated IMD's forecast on Friday.
Due to this system’s landward movement, the IMD has issued a red alert for Telangana, central Maharashtra, coastal Goa, and Gujarat for Saturday. An orange alert has been issued for Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Kutch, and Saurashtra for the weekend.
Rainfall is expected to be substantial, with predictions of 115-120 mm in the affected areas over the next 24 hours. Moderate to heavy rain is also expected to prevail in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and eastern Rajasthan for the next three days.
Additionally, the IMD has issued a ‘signal 3’ warning for coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh due to continuous heavy rainfall. This warning, meant to alert vessels of a potential cyclonic storm, has been issued for Kalingapatnam, Visakhapatnam, and Kakinada.
In other regions, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh experienced heavy rainfall on Friday, leading to school closures as rainwater flooded homes and streets.
In contrast, Delhi is expected to experience light, isolated rainfall over the next three days. The maximum temperature in Delhi-NCR is predicted to be around 36 degrees Celsius on Saturday, with light rain forecasted for July 21 and 22.
Overall, the all-India rainfall has been measured at 324.4mm from June 1 to July 19, which is 98 percent of the normal average for this time of the year. At least 15 states and Union Territories have recorded normal or above-normal rainfall so far.
