The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for parts of Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Goa, forecasting heavy to extremely heavy rainfall on Saturday. This warning comes as a result of a depression that has formed over the Bay of Bengal, which is expected to bring intense rainfall to Gujarat and the southern peninsular regions of India through the weekend.
The IMD reported that the low-pressure system over the Bay of Bengal evolved into a depression on Tuesday, subsequently moving towards Odisha. The depression, situated near Puri, Gopalpur, and Paradip, is slowly advancing towards the northwestern regions.
“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 – Chhattisgarh and weaken gradually,” stated the IMD in its Friday forecast.
Due to the impending landfall and movement of the depression, the IMD has issued a red alert for Telangana, central Maharashtra, coastal Goa, and Gujarat for Saturday. Additionally, an orange alert has been issued for Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Kutch, and Saurashtra over the weekend.
These regions are anticipated to receive between 115-120 mm of rainfall within the next 24 hours. The forecast also indicates moderate to heavy rain in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and eastern Rajasthan for the next three days.
A ‘signal 3’ warning has been issued for the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh, including Kalingapatnam, Visakhapatnam, and Kakinada, alerting vessels of potential cyclonic conditions due to the heavy downpour.
Heavy rainfall on Friday affected Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh, leading to school closures and flooding in several areas. Rainwater inundated homes and streets, disrupting daily life in these states.
In contrast, Delhi is expected to experience light, isolated rainfall over the next three days. The maximum temperature in the Delhi-NCR region is predicted to be around 36 degrees Celsius on Saturday, with light rain anticipated on July 21 and 22.
Nationally, rainfall from June 1 to July 19 totaled 324.4 mm, which is 98 percent of the normal for this period. At least 15 states and Union Territories have reported normal or above-normal rainfall so far this season.
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