Commuters caught at ITO area during a heavy spell of rain that lashed many parts of New Delhi on July 10, 2023.
| Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy
Torrential rain across northern India has killed at least 22 people, as well as causing landslides and flash floods in the region, authorities and local media said on Monday (July 10).
Schools in New Delhi were closed after heavy rains lashed the national capital over the weekend, and authorities in the Himalayan States of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand asked people not to venture out of their homes unless necessary.
At least 22 people died in floods and landslides in the northern States of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab on Sunday, the Times of India newspaper reported.
In the northern State of Himachal Pradesh, flash floods over the weekend brought down a bridge and swept away several hutments. Authorities used helicopters to rescue people stranded on roads and bridges because of the rain, footage showed.
Streets across the northern States, including in Punjab, Delhi and Uttarakhand were flooded. In some areas, rescue personnel used rubber rafts to rescue people stranded inside their homes, local media said.
“Please stay inside your homes because more heavy rain is expected in the next 24 hours,” Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said in an appeal on social media late on Sunday.
Many districts in Himachal Pradesh received a month’s rainfall in a day at the weekend, said a senior weather department official.
Delhi, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh have received 112%, 100% and 70% more rainfall than average so far in the current monsoon season that started on June 1, according to the department.
Rains continue to lash Punjab, Haryana; Army assistance sought in Patiala
Rains battered parts of Punjab and Haryana for the third consecutive day on Monday with authorities working round the clock to reach out to people in the worst-hit places in hours of crisis.
According to the meteorological department, it has been raining in many parts of Punjab and Haryana since morning.
In view of the prevailing situation caused due to incessant rains, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar cancelled all his pre-scheduled programmes for the day and summoned an emergency meeting of senior officials of various departments, including Home, Disaster Management and Urban Local Bodies, officials said.
Mr. Khattar will also be holding a meeting with deputy commissioners later in the day through video-conferencing, they said.
Authorities have already ordered the closure of schools in some affected areas in Punjab and Haryana.
As torrential rains battered several parts of Punjab, Army assistance was sought by the Patiala district administration after water overflowed from the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal in Rajpura town following a breach.
The Army has been put on alert in some other parts of Punjab, officials said.
In Rajpura, water entered a private hospital and the patients were shifted to two other hospitals, they said.
‘Severe waterlogging’ in Ajmer
Continuous and heavy rainfall have led to extensive waterlogging in several parts of Rajasthan’s Ajmer, the officials said on July 10.
“Severe waterlogging witnessed in various parts of Ajmer, following heavy rainfall in the region,” they said.
Heavy rainfall on July 9 morning also led to extensive waterlogging in Rajasthan’s Sikar, disrupting normal life. Amid heavy rainfall on July 8 evening, a student died after he fell into an open sewerage tank near Nawalgarh Road in the Sikar district, an official from the Civil Defence Team (CD) said.
After receiving word of the incident, a Civil Defence Rescue team reached the spot and recovered the student’s body, he said. Congress State president Govind Singh Dotasra, BJP MP Swami Sumedhanand and former MLA Amra Ram also visited the spot after learning of the incident. Sharing her concerns, on the prevailing situation, a resident said, “While the rains have brought us some respite from the heat, we are facing a lot of difficulty commuting due to extensive waterlogging. We are experiencing showers at regular intervals.
In its daily weather briefing on July 7, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said heavy rainfall was likely to occur over North India in the next four to five days. “Heavy rains in North India for the next four to five days. The effect of active monsoon will be seen in other States,” the IMD said in a statement. The agency urged people to take necessary precautions against heavy rainfall.
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