Rain renders over 200 roads unnavigable in Himachal flash flood warning for half of Jharkhand

New Delhi, Jul 14 (PTI) More than 200 roads were out of bounds for vehicular traffic in Himachal Pradesh, a majority of them in Mandi, because of the havoc caused by rain, while a flash flood warning was issued for 12 districts in Jharkhand on Monday.
     Delhi got a decent drizzle towards the evening, lifting the heavy humid pall it sweltered under during the day.
     According to IMD data, Lodhi Road recorded the highest cumulative rainfall at 18.5 mm till 8.30 am on Monday.
     Pragati Maidan received 24.3 mm of rain, Ayanagar, 15.5 mm, Safdarjung, 15.8 mm, and Palam, 8.5 mm.
     In Himachal Pradesh, 208 roads, including 157 in the disaster-hit Mandi district, are closed for vehicular traffic, while 745 water supply schemes and 139 power distribution transformers were affected.
     The local Met office has issued an Orange alert of heavy to very heavy rain in Kangra, Mandi and Sirmaur on Monday, and Shimla, Solan, and Sirmaur on Tuesday.
     It issued a Yellow alert, meaning heavy rain, for at least three of the 12 districts till Friday.
     In Odisha, the weather department forecasted heavy rainfall in 19 of the 30 districts, as a low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal intensified into a well-marked system.
     The India Meteorological Department cautioned fishermen not to venture into the sea for the next 24 hours in the north Bay of Bengal, as squally winds, blowing at 40-50 kmph, gusting to 60 kmph, were likely to prevail along and off north Odisha.
     A red warning was issued for extremely heavy rain, above 20 centimetres, in Mayurbhanj, Keonhar and Sundargarh. Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore were predicted to receive 12 cm to 20 cm of rain. The remaining districts were forecasted to witness 7-11 cm of precipitation.
     Kolkata is likely to experience spells of light to moderate rain or thundershowers over the next 24 hours.
     Light to moderate rain is likely across South Bengal districts, as a cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal is set to intensify into a low-pressure area within the next 24 hours, according to the Regional Meteorological Centre here.
     In Jharkhand, a flash flood warning was issued for Bokaro, East Singhbhum, Garhwa, Gumla, Khunti, Latehar, Lohardaga, Palamu, Ranchi, Saraikela, Simdega, and West Singhbhum districts till 11.30 am on Tuesday.
     "Surface runoff and inundation may occur in some low-lying areas," the IMD said.
     A Red alert was sounded for heavy to extremely heavy rain in Saraikela-Kharswan, East Singhbhum, and West Singhbhum districts, and an Orange alert for Gumla, Khunti, and Simdega districts till 8.30 am on Tuesday.
     The weather office has issued a Yellow alert for heavy rain in Ranchi, Lohardaga, Ramgarh, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Jamtara, Hazaribag, Giridih, Koderma, and Deoghar till 8.30 am tomorrow.
     Ranchi Meteorological Centre Deputy Director Abhishek Anand said the state is likely to experience a widespread rainfall till July 17 under the influence of a depression and monsoon trough.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)