Delhi witnessed its heaviest spell of rains this season on Thursday, and heavy downpour lashed parts of Mumbai and neighbouring areas, while the meteorological department predicted more rainfall in the country over the next two-three days.
In Uttar Pradesh, two members of a family were killed and as many seriously injured when a wall of their 'kutcha' house collapsed due to heavy rains, and in Madhya Pradesh, the weather office issued an 'orange alert' of very heavy rainfall in eight districts till Friday morning.
The India Meteorological Department said large parts of the country are likely to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall during the next two-three days.
A low pressure area has formed over northwest Bay of Bengal off north Odisha and West Bengal coasts. There is also a monsoon trough, plus a convergence of south-westerly winds with moisture from Arabian Sea is likely to continue during the next two days, which will lead to heavy rains over several parts of the country, it said.
Fairly widespread rainfall with heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places are very likely over major parts of north India -- Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, east Rajasthan -- during the next two days and decrease thereafter, the IMD said.
Several parts of western India are also expected to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall. This includes Gujarat, Goa, Konkan, the ghat areas of central Maharashtra, and parts of central India during next four-five days, it said.
"Isolated extremely heavy falls are also likely over Gujarat state during next two-three days and over ghat areas of central Maharashtra during next 24 hours," the IMD said, adding fairly widespread rainfall with heavy to very heavy falls are likely over Odisha, Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana during the next two-three days
In Delhi, Thursday's rainfall inundated low-lying areas and threw traffic out of gear.
According to the IMD, the Ayanagar weather station recorded 106.9 mm rainfall, the maximum in the city, since Wednesday morning.
The Palam and Ridge weather stations gauged 99.9 mm and 98.2 mm precipitation respectively during the period. The Safdarjung observatory, which provides representative figures for the city, recorded 83.8 mm rainfall, according to the IMD.
Vehicles moved bumper to bumper during the morning rush hours, as the downpour led to heavy waterlogging at key road stretches. A monsoon report shared by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation mentioned that waterlogging took place at 41 locations. Besides, parts of buildings collapsed at eight places and trees fell at seven locations, it said.
In Maharashtra, heavy rains lashed isolated parts of Mumbai and neighbouring Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts since Wednesday.
The weather office predicted more showers in the Konkan region and some areas in the central part of the state over the next one day.
Some isolated places in Mumbai received heavy downpour in the range of 70 mm to 100 mm during the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Thursday, a senior IMD official said.
Besides, some isolated areas of Thane experienced very heavy rainfall of more than 120 mm, while the observatory at Matheran hill town in Raigad reported 161.4 mm rain during the same period, the IMD said.
According to the IMD, the Dahanu weather station in coastal Palghar reported 90.1 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours, while the Thane Belapur Industries Association observatory recorded 57.2 mm rain. The Santacruz weather bureau, representative of Mumbai's suburbs, recorded 42 mm downpour, while the Colaba observatory in south Mumbai reported 17.8 mm rainfall.
Water is being released from the Khadakwasla reservoir in Pune as it has been filled to capacity following a good spell of rains in the catchment areas, an irrigation department official said.
Rains have been pummelling Pune and adjoining areas since Thursday morning.
The IMD has issued an 'orange alert' with a forecast of very heavy rainfall in eight districts of Madhya Pradesh till Friday morning. Monsoon has been active in many parts of the state, IMD Bhopal centre's senior meteorologist G D Mishra said.
Some isolated places in Chhindwara, Balaghat, Betul, Harda, Khandwa, Alirajpur, Jhabua and Dhar districts are likely to receive very heavy rainfall till Friday morning, the official said.
Besides, there is a 'yellow warning' of heavy rainfall in 15 districts- Anooppur, Dindori, Chattarpur, Sehore, Rajgarh, Hoshangabad, Burhanpur, Khargone, Barwani, Dewas, Agar, Shivpuri, Datia, Morena and Sheopur, Mishra said.
Colour-coded warnings are issued ahead of severe or hazardous weather that has the potential to cause damage, widespread disruption or danger to life. An orange alert means the authorities should "be prepared", while a yellow warning asks them to "be updated".
There was light to moderate rain and thundershowers at most places in Uttar Pradesh, with extremely heavy rainfall at isolated areas in the eastern part.
The Lucknow weather office said heavy rain occurred at isolated places in the western part of Uttar Pradesh, and thunderstorm accompanied with lightning was reported from some areas in the state.
The weather office said rain and thundershowers are very likely at most places in the state on Friday, while heavy to very heavy rains are very likely at isolated places.
