Monsoon rains: IMD chief defends Kerala, U'khand, HP rainfall warnings

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued forecasts for significant rainfall activity along the west coast of India on a regular basis and a red alert for Kerala in the early morning of July 30, IMD chief Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said on Thursday.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the Kerala government did not heed the Centre's warning regarding a possible natural calamity in Wayanad due to heavy rains.

Heavy rain-induced landslides claimed over 150 lives in Wayanad district on Tuesday morning (July 30).

Responding to Shah's claim, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Wednesday that the IMD had only issued an orange alert in the district ahead of the landslides.

However, he said that the district received over 572 mm of rainfall, which was significantly higher than what was predicted by the IMD.

During an online press conference, the IMD chief said the weather department had issued an extended range forecast for significant rainfall activity along the west coast of India on July 18 and July 25.

"The long-range forecast issued on July 25 indicated good rainfall activity along the west coast and central parts of the country from July 25 to August 1. We issued a yellow warning on July 25, which continued until July 29, when we issued an orange warning. A red warning was issued in the early morning of July 30, indicating that very heavy rainfall, up to 20 cm, was expected," Mohapatra said.

The IMD chief said that an orange warning means "be prepared for action and one should not wait for red warnings."

Similarly, warnings were in place for Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, he said.

Three people were killed and about 40 went missing after two separate incidents of cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh, where rains washed away many houses and roads and left two hydro power projects damaged.

Mohapatra said it is difficult to ascertain whether Himachal Pradesh experienced a cloudburst.

"For example, Delhi also experienced heavy rainfall (on Wednesday night) concentrated in a short period. We call them extremely intense spells," he said.

"The reason behind heavy to very heavy rainfall in Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand is the shifting of the monsoon trough (from south of its normal position) to the north," he explained.

For Delhi, an orange warning was issued with a lead time of two days, Mohapatra said.