Severe heatwaves continued across north and northwest India on Sunday with the mercury level crossing the grim mark of 49 degrees Celsius in several parts, including national capital New Delhi and the Banda district in Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region.
Although a relief is expected in the region from Monday, thanks to duststorms and thunderstorms under the influence of a western disturbance, the weather department has issued an orange alert for northwest India.
Besides, a red alert has also been issued for Rajasthan.
“We have issued Red Alert for Rajasthan for an intense spell of the heatwave, and a Yellow alert for tomorrow. Similarly, we have issued an Orange alert for Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, eastern Madhya Pradesh and Delhi,” IMD senior scientist Naresh Kumar said on Sunday, as reported by news agency ANI.
“The clouds are observed at some parts of Jammu and Kashmir from today, itself. So, we can expect a significant decrease in the temperatures after 24 hours, which will eventually decrease the condition of ‘severe heatwave in northwest India, specifically, Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan,” he said while talking about the approaching western disturbance.
On Sunday, weather stations in Delhi’s Mungeshpur and Najafgarh recorded a temperature of 49.2 and 49.1 degrees Celsius respectively. In Uttar Pradesh’s Banda, the maximum day temperature of 49 degrees Celsius was reported.
Similarly, in Rajasthan’s Churu and Pilani, maximum temperatures of 47.9 and 47.7 degrees Celsius were reported respectively, followed by Sri Ganganagar and Jhansi (47.6), Narnaul (47.5), Khajuraho and Nowgong (47.4) and Hissar (47.2), according to the IMD.
It said that the the maximum temperature was markedly above normal (5.1 degrees or more) at several places in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Bihar.
Heavy rains in Kerala
While severe heatwaves are continuing over north and northwest India, heavy rains have battered the southern state of Kerala. The weather department has warned of heavy rains in the coastal state for the next five days due to strong westerly winds in the Arabian Sea.
Looking at this, an orange alert – which means very heavy rains from 6 cm to 20 cm – has also been issued for six districts of Kerala on May 15.
Amid this, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been deployed in five districts – Idukki, Ernakulam, Malappuram, Kozhikode and Wayanad. A 24-hour control room has also been set-up for places prone to flooding, according to the state government.
