Downpour swells water bodies in several states: More rains predicted in Maha, Kerala

Several states of India are braving monsoon fury. Waterbodies are flowing above or close to danger marks. A huge loss of life and property has been reported.

Hyderabad:Various parts of Maharashtra witnessed heavy rains on Wednesday, prompting two universities to suspend or cancel exams, while incessant downpours also flooded low-lying areas in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore city where some cars were swept away. In Bihar, incessant rains have caused all major rivers including Kosi, Kamala Balan, Bagmati, Mahananda, and Parman to swell up.

A similar situation is in Karnataka. Heavy rainfall triggered by low pressure over the northwest and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal has also affected normal life across Odisha. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, central Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh on Thursday.

Maharashtra’s capital Mumbai witnessed moderate rains along with strong winds since Tuesday and more showers are predicted over the next 24 hours, officials said. Asked about rains along coastal Maharashtra and the Western Ghat regions, IMD Director General Mrutunjay Mohapatra said the low-pressure area attracted strong winds from the Arabian sea which brought heavy rainfall over the region.

The intensity will come down from Wednesday, he said. Due to the heavy rains and subsequent flood situation in Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara districts of western Maharashtra, the examinations of the Kolhapur University scheduled on Wednesday and Thursday have been suspended. The new timetable will be announced later, the Kolhapur district administration said in a statement. The water level of the Panchganga river in Kolhapur has crossed the warning mark.

At 10 am on Wednesday, the water level of the Panchganga river at Rajaram weir reached 40.2 feet, as against the warning level of 39 feet and the danger mark of 43 feet, officials from the district disaster management cell said. Some roads in Kolhapur district were closed after water-logging on some stretches, officials from the Public Works Department said.

The Nagpur University cancelled all its examinations scheduled on Wednesday in view of heavy rains in the district and adjoining places in the Vidarbha region. The Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharajah Nagpur University’s Director, Board of Examination and Evaluation, Dr Prafulla Sabale in a notification said the next date will be announced soon and asked authorities to inform students about the decision.

Mumbai and its suburbs witnessed moderate rains in the last one day. The local trains and bus services of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) were operating normally on Wednesday. There was no diversion of any bus service, a civic official said. After heavy overnight downpour on Tuesday, the rain intensity reduced in Mumbai, he said.

The city recorded 26.87 mm rainfall in the 24-hour period till 8 am on Wednesday, while the eastern and western suburbs recorded 31.38 mm and 33.06 mm downpour respectively in the same period, he said. The IMD has predicted moderate rain in the city and suburbs with the possibility of heavy showers at isolated places in the next 24 hours.

Madhya Pradesh

In Indore, heavy rains inundated low-lying areas of the city. In western parts of the MP city, some cars were swept away on a flooded road leading to the Sirpur lake due to the strong water current, but there was so far no report of any casualty, Indore Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava said.

Alarmed by the situation arising due to heavy downpour since Tuesday evening, the district administration declared a holiday for schools on Wednesday. A Meteorological department official said Indore recorded 108.9 mm rainfall in the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Wednesday. Rains are likely to continue in the city for the next two days, he said.

“We have sent civic teams to low-lying areas of the city to help the affected people. They have been directed to shift children, women and aged people to safer places first if the need arises,” the mayor said.

Bihar

Heavy rains in Nepal have once again increased the problems of Bihar. Due to heavy rains in the last few days, the water level of many rivers of Bihar has increased due to which the flood crisis has deepened in many areas. The water level has increased in almost all the major rivers like Kosi, Kamala Balan, Bagmati, Mahananda, and Parman.

As the water level of the rivers is rising, the flood water has spread to the low-lying areas of the districts through which these rivers pass. Several villages in West Champaran, Gopalganj, Supaul, and Araria districts have lost contact with the rest of the state. Crops have been damaged. Several flood victims are stuck and many others find it hard to move around due to waterlogging. At the same time, it has become difficult to arrange animal feed since all the fields are submerged.

Bihar Water Resources Department issued a toll-free helpline number 18003456145 for providing safety and related information during floods. It works 24 hours a day. Information related to floods can be given on this number.

Karnataka

Rains continued to pound several districts in Karnataka. Normal life was affected due to rain and overflowing water bodies. Heavy rain and landslides have caused severe damage in the Kodagu district this year again. Cauvery river in Bhagmandal is flowing above the danger level and locals fear the 2018 situation again in the district.

Several houses collapsed due to landslides and roads to villages were blocked. In the Chikmagalur district, three people died in the last 24 hours, two of them due to a tree falling on one house in Tagalur village. The water level in the KRS dam of the Cauvery river is also increasing due to continuous rainfall even as 1 lakh cusecs were released. This is the highest level of water released from the dam in the last three years. More than 40 villages in the basin area are in fear of flooding.

Due to rains, as many as 990 houses were damaged, of them 40 completely collapsed, in the Belgaum district. Around 1000 km of roads, 1300 Electrical poles and 18 Bridges were damaged.

Odisha

The heavy rainfall triggered by the low-pressure area over the northwest and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal has badly affected the normal life across Odisha. As per the latest forecast, the depression has weakened into a well-marked low-pressure area over Chhattisgarh and adjoining east Madhya Pradesh. It is likely to move west-north westwards before weakening into a low-pressure area during the next 24 hours. Under the influence of the system, widespread rainfall was witnessed in different districts of the state.

Assam

Assam witnessed two major waves of devastating floods in the months of June and July. According to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, flood losses are highest this year. Dr Sarma informed the media that 176 people had lost their lives due to devastating floods while 19 people died due to severe landslides in different parts of the state.

"One-third of the total population of Assam was severely affected by two waves of floods. A total of 9980 revenue villages under 34 districts were submerged and over 90 lakh people were impacted," the CM said. Sarma also said that 25,670 houses were completely destroyed and 20,76,260 houses were partially damaged due to floods in Assam this year. On the other hand, a total of 5,483 domestic animals died due to floods, he said.

Kerala

Major dams like Mullaperiyar and Banasursagar are still open and discharging water downstream with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday predicting widespread and isolated heavy rainfall in Kerala during the day and on August 11.

Banasursagar dam in Wayanad was at red alert water level status and three of its gates were opened 10 centimeters (cm) each this morning, spilling around 24 cumecs of water, district officials said. In Mullaperiyar dam, which is managed by the Tamil Nadu government, 13 shutters were opened by 90 cm each to discharge around 8,980 cusecs of water, Idukki district officials said.

Cusecs is the volume of water discharged measured in cubic feet per second. When the same is measured in cubic meters per second, it’s called cumecs. One cusec is equivalent to 28.32 litre per second. Meanwhile, water in the Periyar river basin was rising in certain areas and falling or holding steady in others in the morning, officials said.