As heavy rains lashed Delhi, Mumbai and other areas on Monday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted widespread showers with isolated heavy rainfall over Northeast India on Tuesday. Meanwhile, in Northwest India and East India, the weather department predicted a "significant" reduction in rainfall and hailstorm activity starting Tuesday.
The IMD issued a yellow and an orange alert in parts of India on Tuesday as well. These areas include:
Maharashtra: Latur, Hingloi and Nanded are on orange alert, with the IMD predicting thunderstorm, lightening and hailstorms in these regions. Several other areas include Nashik, Ahmednagar, Solapur, Jalgaon, Pune, Palghar and Satara. Meanwhile, Mumbai, mostly suburbs, is currently experiencing light to moderate rains. Due to moisture incursion from the Arabian Sea, Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra were witnessing another round of unseasonal rains.
Gujarat: A yellow alert was issued in most parts of the state including districts such as Kachchh, Junagarh, Amreli, Surat, Patan, Anand, Narmada, Gandhinagar, Morbi, Ahmedabad and Dangs. Ahmedabad Met director Manorama Mohanty was quoted by news agency ANI as saying that Gujarat may witness rainfall activity for the next three to four days.
Madhya Pradesh: An orange alert was issued in Neevmuch, Mandsaur, Shivpuri, Morena, Bhind, Panna, Damoh, Dindori, and Santna. Other parts including Rajgarh, Chhindwara, Jabalpur, Seoni, Balaghat, Betul and Jabalpur were on yellow alert.
Heavy rain & severe hailstorm hit several regions of Madhya Pradesh today, whitewashing areas with hail & causing damage to crops. Visuals from Khargone and Dindori region of Madhya Pradesh#Hailstorm #Rains #Rainfall #MP #MadhyaPradesh #Dindori #Khargone #Crops #CropDamage pic.twitter.com/c50rrwVXK3
— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18News) March 21, 2023
Rajasthan: An orange alert issued in Jaisalmer, Jaipur, Jhunjhunu, Alwar and Sikar, while a yellow alert was issued in Hanumangarh, Churu, Bhilwara, Bundi, Jhalawar and Dausa.
Assam: Heavy rains were predicted in Assam on Tuesday. While an orange alert was issued in Dima Hasao and Cachar, rest of the state was on yellow alert.
Delhi: Meanwhile, Delhi received the highest 24-hour rainfall for March on Monday in the past three years, recording 6.6 mm precipitation in just three hours, the IMD was quoted by PTI as saying. "Monday's rainfall was the highest in 24 hours recorded in three years in March," a Met official said. No alert was issued for Tuesday.
Crop damage
These heavy rains caused major crop damage across Northwest India.
Punjab, where Mohali, Ludhiana, Moga, and Bhatinda were the worst affected districts, ready-to-harvest wheat crop, vegetable, and fruit crops (bottle guard, okra, bitter guard, watermelon, etc) were damaged due to unseasonal rains.
In Madhya Pradesh, unseasonal rains damaged crops in 20 districts, according to estimates. Bhopal, Mandsaur, Khargone, Narmadapuram, Shahdol, Gwalior, and Rewa were worst affected areas.
While in Maharashtra, the government said crops spread over 66,000 hectares were destroyed due to unseasonal rains. Marathwada and Nashik are the most affected regions. Crops spread over 62,000 hectares in Marathwada and 4,000 hectares in the Nashik region were damaged.
Rains and hailstorm also damaged wheat, mustard, cumin seeds, onions, cumin, and chick peas crops in Rajasthan. Sikar, Pali, and Jalore are the most affected districts in the state.
First Published: Mar 21, 2023 7:55 AM IST
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