Uttarakhand cloudburst: Heavy rain wreaks havoc in Pauri, Tehri; updates

After battling forest fires for over a week, Uttarakhand is now experiencing heavy rainfall and cloudburst. For latest update on weather in North India, track Business Standard

After battling forest fires for over a week, Uttarakhand is now experiencing heavy rainfall and cloudburst. Adding to the woes of the state, the ever-changing weather of Uttarakhand once again caused of destruction on Friday. In places like Uttarkashi, Pauri, Tehri and Balakot, there have been reports of cloudbursts. Even in places like Pithoragarh and Betalghat, debris entered houses and shops of the people residing there. There are about a dozen shops and houses reduced to rubble.

The team of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) has left for relief work. The Meteorological Department has issued Orange Alert in Uttarakhand. Heavy rains have been warned for the next 36 hours. However, administrative officials said that there was no loss of life and property. But it has caused considerable damage to properties. Several hectares of crops have been destroyed due to cloudburst and heavy rain in Ghansali area of Tehri, reports ANI.

Apart from the cloudbursts, there have been heavy rains in many districts of Uttarakhand. Rains in Pithoragarh district have wreaked havoc on the Indo-Nepal border in the Kali and Gori river basins.

Weather in other parts of North India:

Dust storm hits Chandigarh, Delhi-NCR: Dust storm hit Chandigarh and its surrounding areas, throwing life out of gear on Friday. The storm accompanied by high-velocity winds and rain hit the Union Territory, including its periphery areas -Mohali and Panchkula, and the day turned almost completely dark in the evening.

There were reports of power supply disruption and trees getting uprooted.

Heat wave in Punjab, Haryana: Punjab and Haryana had been witnessing intense heat wave for the past several days. The mercury has been hovering over 40 degrees Celsius at most of the places in both the states.

Thunderstorm in Uttar Pradesh: Light to moderate rain and thunderstorm occurred at isolated places in Uttar Pradesh. According to the MeT department here on Thursday, day temperatures were below normal in Faizabad, Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Varanasi and Moradabad.

The highest maximum temperature in the state was 44.3 degrees Celsius recorded at Fatehgarh.

What must you watch out for?

Rain and thunderstorm are likely at isolated places in the state on June 2, June 3 and June 4, IMD said. Thunderstorm/duststorm accompanied with squall/gusty winds are very likely at isolated places on June 2, said the weather department.