Three States Face Flood Threats Due To Heavy Rains, Holidays Declared In Colleges, Check The Names Here

After record-breaking rain on Sunday, Chandigarh and its satellite districts of Panchkula and Mohali in Haryana and Punjab, respectively, faced flood threat on Monday amid an incessant downpour since morning in the region, particularly Himachal Pradesh.

Chandigarh recorded 96mm of rainfall till 8.30am and added on another 51mm till 10.30am, making it a total of 449mm of rainfall in a span of 50 hours, which is 40% of the annual rainfall quota of the city, weatherman Navdeep Dahiya tweeted.

As more rain is forecast in the tricity, another 100+ accumulation is expected in Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali. To make matters worse, unprecedented heavy rain is underway in Himachal Pradesh, leading to rivers, such as the Sutlej, Beas and Ghaggar flowing above the danger mark and flooding low-lying catchment areas.

Orange alert declared

An orange alert has been declared in Chandigarh and its surrounding areas as moderate to intense rainfall is likely to continue during the day. Orange is the second highest of the four colour warning system used by the IMD and it asks people to stay alert and be prepared.

It is expected that intensity of rain will reduce from Tuesday.

The airport observatory recorded 160.6mm of rainfall till 10.30am, while the automatic weather station in Panchkula recorded 69.5mm of rainfall.

According to AK Singh, the director of the Indian Meteorological Department’s Chandigarh centre, the intensity of rainfall is high because of a strong western disturbance (WD) affecting the region and its confluence with the monsoon system and a cyclonic system formed over the region. It is likely to continue on Monday as well but from Tuesday the effect of the WD is expected to stop.

This comes after 302.2mm of rainfall was recorded on Sunday, making it the wettest day in Chandigarh of all time.

Ropar, Rajpura, Yamunanagar bear brunt

In the tricity, Mohali continues to have the most water-logging issues as was seen on Sunday as well.

Till 8.30am, highest amount of rainfall recorded was in Punjab with 350mm rainfall in Ropar, 259.6mm at Rajpura in Patiala district, and 201.2mm in Nawanshahr.

In Haryana, 242mm of rainfall was recorded in Ismailabad, Kurukshetra, 218.3mm at Tajewal, Yamunanagar, and 197mm in Pratap Nagar, Yamunanagar.

Panjab University declares holiday

Panjab University (PU) declared a holiday on Monday. The notification issued in the morning itself by the PU registrar said the main campus, regional centres and all constituent and affiliated colleges of the university shall be closed for the day in view of the heavy rain. A B Ed second semester exam scheduled on Monday was postponed.

Ghaggar, Sutlej rivers in spate in Punjab; flood threat looms over Dera Bassi, Patiala, Sangrur, Ropar

As incessant rain lashed most parts of Punjab, the Ghaggar river is now learnt to be overflowing, with water flowing at 2.5 feet above the danger mark.

This has sent the alarm bells ringing and a team of National Disaster Response Force has been called out in Tiwana village of Mohali. “They are at standby, as water is flowing at 12.5 feet, against 10-foot danger mark,” Chief Engineer Irrigation H S Mehndiratta said. He said that they were keeping a close watch as the water in the Ghaggar would flow downstream towards Patiala and Sangrur.

With the IMD already issuing a warning of a heavy downpour in Patiala, Sangrur, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Ludhiana, Mansa and  Muktsar for today, the government is on high alert.

Officials in Irrigation department say that though there are no reports of any untoward incidents till now, many low lying areas in these cities are already inundated. Only one or two minor beaches in some water channels have been reported in Ferozepur.

The authorities are also keeping a close watch on the flow of water in Sutlej. It is learnt that downstream water flow in the river is 1,00,000 cusecs as against a normal water flow of 12,000 cusecs. As a result, low-lying areas in villages along the river and its tributaries in Ropar and Anandpur Sahib like Kahanpur Khoohi have been inundated.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has ordered all MLAs to be stationed in their constituencies and help in relief measures. People have also been advised not to venture out until it is necessary.

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