As monsoon tightens its grip in India, IMD has issued alerts and warnings across the country. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday issued a red alert for five districts in Gujarat.
The forecast comes as a depression over western Vidarbha and adjoining south Madhya Pradesh continues to move west-northwestwards.
Extremely heavy rainfall is predicted in districts including Ahmedabad, Anand, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Morbi, Vadodara, Patan, Sabar Kantha, Gandhinagar and Botad.
In addition, an orange alert has been issued in 18 districts of the state.
Meanwhile, a yellow alert has been issued in 10 districts of the state, where there is a possibility of heavy rain at isolated places.
Three people died of electrocution after a tempo truck carrying farm labourers came in contact with a live high-tension overhead electric wire in Navsari district’s Gandevi in the morning.
“Poor visibility caused by relentless downpours likely contributed to the accident while the tempo was travelling from Gandeva village to a nearby farm,” Gandevi police inspector N. I. Rathod was quoted by The Indian Express.
An 11-year-old girl died after being swept away in a canal in Borsad taluka of Anand district on Friday.
Over 16,500 people were evacuated to safer locations across the state and 41 persons were rescued, the government release said.
Besides Gujarat, heavy to heavy rainfall is expected over Konkan and Goa, coastal Karnataka, Kerala, Mahe, and Tamil Nadu.
Red alert in 8 districts in Kerala
In Kerala, a red alert has been issued for eight districts. Kottayam, Idukki, Pathanamthitta, Wayanad, Malappuram, Alappuzha, Kozhikode and Palakkad districts have declared holidays for educational institutions in the wake of the rain.
Incessant rain has triggered landslides and flooding in many regions. Two landslides were reported in Idukki district. A massive landslide was reported in Adoormala, leaving one person dead; rescue operations are underway in the region.
Alerts in other states
IMD also forecast heavy rainfall at isolated places over Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
Nandurbar in Maharashtra and Cachar, Jorhat and Lakhimpur in Assam are also under the orange warning.
Rainfall activity is also expected to increase over Uttar Pradesh during the first week of August, with heavy rainfall likely over western Uttar Pradesh between August 3 and 5 and over eastern Uttar Pradesh from August 2 to 6.
