Monsoon set to cover India, deficit wiped off

The rains left only far-western parts of Rajasthan from its expanse

The southwest monsoon is on the verge of covering the entire country 10 days ahead of its schedule as the rains reached almost all parts of the country barring extreme west Rajasthan, around Barmer district.

The strong pick-up in showers has wiped off the shortfall which till the end of June had stood at 11 per cent of the long period average (LPA, the average rainfall for the past 50 years).

The monsoon, which usually covers the entire country by July 15, has, as on Tuesday, left only far-western parts of Rajasthan from its expanse.

The rains in the first four days of July were around 40 per cent more than normal.

Heavy rains lashed several parts of Central, Western and north-eastern India in the past 24 hours, forcing the Centre to deploy the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams in areas facing flood threat in Bihar.

In Uttar Pradesh, a 30-year-old man was killed when a false ceiling collapsed on him in Barananki district, which got moderate rains. Scattered rainfall was recorded in areas including Mirzapur, Varanasi, Bareilly, Churk and Gorawal. The MeT office said heavy rains were likely to hit a few areas in the state on Wednesday.

Delhi had sporadic rains. The maximum temperature hovered below normal but high humidity, which shot up to 89 per cent, troubled residents of the capital city, which might also receive rains on Wednesday.

The three other metropolitan cities of Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai recorded maximum temperatures of 29.4, 36.7 and 29.4 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The weather office has warned of ‘extremely heavy rains’ in east Madhya Pradesh and ‘very heavy rains’ in Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha, Assam, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, coastal Karnataka and Kerala.

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NDRF teams have been deployed in Bihar's Gopalganj and Darbhanga districts to tackle a possible flood situation in the wake of heavy rains in the state. The disaster response force is also camping in Muzaffarpur, Supual and Deedarganj.

Fluctuating weather conditions were witnessed in Rajasthan that gauged moderate to heavy rains and a rise in the maximum temperature.

Sri Ganganagar recorded 41.7 degrees, followed by Churu at 41, Bikaner 40.1 and Jaisalmer 40 degree Celsius. The Met department has forecast heavy rains in Rajasthan on Wednesday.