New Delhi (Agency): A lethal cocktail of record-breaking rainfall and flash floods convulsed northern India this Sunday, resulting in at least 18 fatalities from landslides and other rain-triggered calamities. Rivers in this area, including the Yamuna in Delhi, swelled beyond safe levels. The deluge transformed urban landscapes across the region into virtual islands, with numerous roads and residential quarters submerged under rising waters. Civic systems were left incapacitated, struggling to withstand the impact of these historic rainfall levels.
Citizens from affected areas – Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, among others – provided a terrifying digital testament to the crisis. Their posts featured vehicles adrift on waterlogged streets, muddy torrents infiltrating residential areas, landslides and temples along with other structures swallowed up by distended rivers.
Meteorological agencies have flagged warnings of heavy showers for sections of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, and Himachal Pradesh. Meanwhile, authorities in Delhi – which just witnessed its highest single-day July downpour since 1982 – have sounded alarms regarding the escalating water level of the Yamuna.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) provided data that underscored the historic nature of this event. Delhi was drenched with 153 mm of rain, ending at 8:30 am on Sunday. Meanwhile, Chandigarh and Ambala in Haryana registered unprecedented rainfall levels of 322.2 mm and 224.1 mm respectively. Himachal Pradesh’s Solan shattered a 50-year-old daily rainfall record, amassing 135 mm of rain as opposed to the previous record of 105 mm set in 1971.
The havoc wreaked by the rainfall has resulted in a temporary halt to everyday life. Schools in Delhi and adjoining NCR cities, such as Gurugram and Noida, announced a closure on Monday, while Ghaziabad’s educational institutions extended their shutdown until July 17 due to the ‘kanwar yatra’.
The deluge has also crippled rail services. Northern Railways reported the cancellation of 17 trains, and 12 others were rerouted due to the inundation. In Himachal Pradesh, a red alert was issued due to torrential rains, which triggered fatal landslides and killed five individuals across 10 districts.
The Uttarakhand authorities reported that three pilgrims drowned in the Ganga river following a landslide-induced jeep accident near Gular, on the Rishikesh-Badrinath National Highway. Two more individuals lost their lives in Jammu and Kashmir after a landslide hit their bus in Doda district, and in Kargil district of Ladakh, a boulder crushed a man’s vehicle, resulting in his death.
The IMD reported a nationwide bridging of the rainfall deficit, with the cumulative monsoon season rainfall hitting 243.2 mm, 2% above the norm. However, regional variations persisted, with the eastern and northeastern region recording a 17% deficiency, while north India witnessed an excess of 59%.
As this exceptional rainfall episode unfolds, we see that the interaction between a western disturbance and monsoonal winds is triggering an intense rainfall spell over northwest India, including Delhi which has experienced the season’s first “very heavy” rainfall.