Rain showers misery on north India; swollen rivers engulf more areas

New Delhi, Sep 2 (PTI) Unrelenting rains piled misery on north India, reeling under serial cloudbursts and floods for the past few weeks, as swollen rivers inundated the plains, crippled rails and road traffic, and forced school closures.

And there is no respite in sight. Under the threat of more rain that can trigger yet another series of disasters, pilgrimages to many Himalayan shrines have been suspended. People have been asked to maintain extreme caution.

In the east, a fresh low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal dumped copious amounts of rain in Odisha. It is likely to bring heavy showers in the state, the Andamans and south Bengal over the next few days.

The National Capital Region remained drenched for a second consecutive day, as heavy showers, unusual for the region this time of the year, upended normal life.

Gurugram grappled with waterlogging, with traffic coming to a standstill. Several city roads and underpasses remained inundated while villages came under water when the Aravali dam near the Kadarpur village in the city's Sector 63 A area got severely damaged.

In adjoining Delhi, people living in the Yamuna floodplains moved hearth and home as the water of the river inundated their dwellings. The city's primary weather station recorded 37.8 mm of rainfall.

The Yamuna, flowing at spate as Wazirabad and Hathnikund barrages kept releasing high volumes of water, crossed the danger mark in Delhi to reach 206.03 metres at 4 pm. The Old Railway Bridge has been shut for traffic.

An official from the Central Flood Control Room warned that the water level is likely to rise further, even as Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta urged people not to panic while assuring them that the situation was under control. The government is prepared to deal with any eventuality, she said.

The situation in Punjab, battling its worst floods since 1988, remained precarious as the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi rivers and seasonal rivulets remained swollen due to heavy rains in their upstream. Twelve districts have been hit by the floods that have already claimed 29 lives, besides impacting more than 2.56 lakh people.

The border state, its neighbour Haryana, and their joint capital Chandigarh were lashed by heavy rains during the day.

All schools in Chandigarh and Haryana remained closed on Tuesday as a precautionary measure, while colleges, universities and polytechnic institutes in Punjab have been ordered to remain shut till September 3.

Relief and rescue operations by the National Disaster Response Force, Army, BSF, police and district authorities are going on in the affected areas. More than 16,000 people have so far been evacuated to safer places.

Among the Himalayan states, Uttarakhand faced another rainy day with various regions lashed by heavy showers. Schools from class 1 to 12 and anganwadi centres were closed in various districts, including Dehradun, for the day.

The Chardham Yatra has also been suspended till September 5.

Most of the rivers in the state were in spate, including the Ganga and its tributaries like the Mandakini and Alaknanda, while several others were flowing above the danger level.

It has been a cruel monsoon this year for Uttarakhand, where natural disasters have so far killed 79 people, injured 114 and left 95 people missing.

Two women died in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh as heavy rains continued to trigger landslides and flash floods, closing over 1,000 roads. An orange alert, warning of heavy rains, has been issued for Kangra, Mandi, Sirmaur and Kinnaur districts on Wednesday.

In Shimla, all government and private educational institutes, including coaching centres and nursing institutes, have been ordered to remain shut. The state capital has been experiencing continuous rainfall for the last few days, and there was a high possibility of landslides at several locations.

Nine villages in Manlai were cut off after floods in the Manalsu stream, which also obstructed the Manali-Leh route. A landslide behind the Paddal Gurudwara area in Mandi town damaged two houses on Monday night. However, no casualties were reported.

Train service on the Shimla-Kalka track, cancelled following landslips, will remain suspended till September 5. Also, efforts are afoot to send about 5,000 Manimahesh pilgrims stuck in the Chamba district back home. Sixteen pilgrims have died since the yatra started on August 15, officials said.

Torrential rain led to mudslides and boulders sliding off slopes at several places on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, leading to the suspension of traffic on the 250-km road linking the Kashmir Valley to the rest of the country.

More than 130 people, mostly pilgrims, have been killed and over 120 injured, while 33 remained untraced following cloudbursts, landslides and flash floods in Kishtwar, Kathua, Reasi and Ramban districts since August 14.

In the wake of a warning of adverse weather and the Jammu region facing heightened landslide threats, pilgrimage to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine remained suspended for the eighth day straight. People have been asked to remain alert in view of heavy rains and the possibility of flash floods over the next 48 hours.

In the east, a fresh low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal brought heavy showers in Odisha, which is likely to continue for the next four days. With the sea remaining choppy, fisherfolk have been cautioned against venturing out along and off the Odisha coast till September 3.

The entire coastal Odisha has been hit by heavy rain, and normal life has been affected since Monday night. Many urban pockets, including the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, reported waterlogging.

As rainwater inundated a bridge at Kangurkonda between Malkangiri and Motu, road communication to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana has been disrupted.

The low-pressure system is also predicted to bring heavy rain in some districts of South Bengal. Under its influence, several coastal areas have already started to receive heavy rain, with Sagar Island, home to the annual Gangasagar Mela, pounded by 120 mm of rain.

In the far east, Arunachal Pradesh is expected to see scattered to widespread rainfall over the next five days, with varying intensities across different regions. The IMD has cautioned residents to follow State Disaster Management Authority guidelines to avoid weather-related risks such as landslides, flash floods, and traffic disruptions. PTI TEAM NSD NSD