At least 2 dead as heavy rain lashes Delhi; roads, low-lying areas flooded

A 56-year-old pick-up truck driver drowned while trying to manoeuvre his vehicle through the waterlogged underpass at Minto Bridge, many shanties collapsed and low-lying areas were inundated as heavy rain lashed Delhi on Sunday.
 

The city received its first spell of heavy rains this morning with 74.8 mm rainfall being recorded till 8:30 am. Another man, 55, was electrocuted in Delhi's Jahagirpuri area.
 

According to officials, waterlogging was reported at several places like Minto Road and under the railway bridge, both carriageways of GTK Depot, Azadpur underpass, Guru Nanak Chowk on Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg, South Avenue Road and Pul Prahladpur underpass on M B Road.
 

5 die in flood-related incidents in Assam
 

Five more people died in flood-related incidents in Assam where the deluge has hit over 2.5 million people in 24 of the 33 districts of the state, according to an official bulletin issued on Sunday.
 

One death each was reported from Baghbar in Barpeta district, Baganpara in Baksa district, Bilasipara in Dhubri district, Mayong in Morigaon district and Kaliabor in Nagaon district, according to the daily flood report of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA). The death toll due to floods and landslides this year has increased to 110, with 84 dying in flood-related incidents, it said.
 

The ASDMA said over 2.5 million persons are hit in Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Bisw-anath, Darrang, Baksa, Nalbari, Barpeta, Chirang, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, South Salmara, Goalpara, Kamrup, Kamrup Metropolitan, Mor-igaon, Nagaon, Golaghat, Jorhat, Majuli, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and Cachar districts. Goalpara is the worst hit with over 453,000 people, followed by Barpeta with around 344,000 and Morigaon with more than 341,000 people.
 

6 per cent more rainfall than normal so far
 

The country has received six per cent more rainfall than normal so far in this monsoon season, but precipitation in parts of north India remains deficient, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday.
 

The IMD has four meteorological divisions and rainfall has been more than normal in the south peninsula, central India, and east and northeast India divisions.
 

But the northwest India division, which covers Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and Rajasthan, has recorded a 19 per cent deficiency, according to the IMD.
 

Till Sunday, rainfall deficiency was recorded in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir. Ladakh has recorded large scale deficiency, it said.
 

Monsoon arrived in Kerala on June 1, its normal onset date, marking the commencement of the four-month rainfall season in the country. India is likely to get normal monsoon, according to the IMD’s forecast.
 

In its long range forecast update for Monsoon 2020 released in June, the IMD had predicted 107 per cent of rainfall of the Long Period Average (LPA) for northwest India which comes under the ‘above normal’ category.