Weather mostly dry in north India, rains in of several southern states

The weather remained mostly dry in north India barring a few places in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan which received light to moderate rains on Thursday.

In Telangana, normal life was thrown out of gear at several places in Hyderabad and some districts of the state following heavy rains.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall was observed at isolated places over Telangana while Assam and Meghalaya, sub-Himalayan west Bengal and Sikkim, west Uttar Pradesh, west Madhya Pradesh, Konkan and Goa and coastal Karnataka also received heavy showers.

In Delhi, the maximum temperature settled at 36.6 degrees Celsius, the IMD said, predicting generally cloudy sky with light rain or drizzle on Friday.

 

The minimum temperature in the national capital was recorded at 23.4 degrees Celsius in the morning, four notches below normal, it said, adding the relative humidity recorded at 5.30 pm was 61 per cent.

Delhi's air quality was in the 'satisfactory' category, it said.

In Telangana's Hyderabad, several residential colonies faced inundation and residents had a tough time trying to bail out water from their houses.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation's (GHMC) Disaster Response Force (DRF) teams were on the field trying to address problems caused by the rains,

Jagtial, Nirmal and other districts in the state have also witnessed heavy rains, with rivulets and other water bodies were in spate at some places.

The weather department said heavy rain is very likely to occur at isolated places in Rajanna Sircilla, Karimnagar, Siddipet and other districts in the next few days.

Light to moderate rains also occurred at a few places in Uttar Pradesh in the past 24 hours, with Jansath (Muzaffarnagar) receiving 13 cm rainfall followed by 10 cm in Meerut, 9 cm in Kanth (Moradabad) and 7 cm in Baghpat.

Other places to receive rains in the state include Thakurdwara (Moradabad) 6 cm, Deoband (Saharanpur) 5 cm, Rampur Maniharan (Saharanpur) 4 cm and Hapur, Sardhana (Meerut) and Tarabganj 2 cm each, it added.

The weather department has predicted rain or thundershowers at isolated places over the state on Jul 16.

Light to heavy rainfall was also recorded at several places in Rajasthan, with the weather department predicting an increase in rain activities in eastern parts of the state within the next few days.

Chittorgarh gauged 41 mm of rain, Sikar 21 and Churu 1.8 from morning till evening on Thursday.

According to a meteorological Department spokesperson, in the 24-hour period till Thursday evening, Mandawar in Alwar and Bayana in Bharatpur each got 11 cm rain among other places.

Pali recorded a maximum temperature of 43.8 degrees Celsius, Barmer-Sawaimadhopur 41.1 degrees Celsius each, Bikaner 40.9 degrees Celsius and Dholpur 40.2 degrees Celsius.

The temperatures in the other northern states of Punjab and Haryana hovered below normal limits at most places.

After receiving rains in the past two days, mainly dry weather prevailed in most parts of the two states, except Karnal in Haryana where heavy rains (49) mm lashed during the day.

In Punjab, Amritsar recorded a maximum of 35.4 degrees Celsius while Ludhiana recorded a high of 33.7 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, the Meteorological Department issued a fresh warning for heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh.

It issued a yellow warning for heavy rains, thunderstorm and lightning in the plains, low hills and mid hills on July 16 and 17, and an orange warning for very heavy rains, thunderstorm and lightning in plains, low hills and mid hills on July 18 and 19.

The Met department issues colour-coded warnings to alert people ahead of severe or hazardous weather which has the potential to cause "damage, widespread disruption and/or danger to life."

Several parts of Himachal Pradesh received light to moderate rains, with Malan in Kangra district gauging 54 mm of rainfall, followed by 32.5 mm in Baijnath in Kangra district.

Officials said the death toll due to landslides and flash floods triggered by the recent rains in Himachal Pradesh have risen to 13 so far.

The IMD has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places over coastal Karnataka, and heavy rainfall at isolated places over Uttarakhand, Bihar, Andamanand Nicobar Islands, Assam and Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, Gujarat, Rayalaseema, among others.