Incessant rains over the last three days in parts of Northeast India have lead to severe floods in Assam and Meghalaya. Several places in Assam including Goalpara, Dhubri, Lakhimpur, Kamrup district and Guwahati have been inundated in flood waters. Garo hills of Meghalaya have also been flooded. According to media reports 10 people have also lost their lives and the toll is likely to rise further.
Heavy rainfall
In a span of 24 hours from 8.30 am on Monday, Guwahati has received a whopping 155 mm of rain, while 109 mm of rain was recorded in the city on Sunday. Dhubri had also recorded 205 mm of rain on Sunday. Some other places in Assam to have received good rain in the last 24 hours are Tezpur 90 mm and Dibrugarh 61 mm.
Cherrapunji in Meghalaya has received over 1000 mm of rain in the last five days. In last 24 hours from 8.30 am on Monday the city has observed 492 mm of rain, while on Sunday it had recorded 146 mm of rain. Heavy rainfall has also been recorded at places like Williamnagar where 319 mm of rain was observed on Monday, Shillong 203 mm, Nongstoin 267 mm and Baghmara 169 mm of rain.
Neighbouring Bangladesh is also bearing the brunt of heavy rains. Sylhet has recorded 125 mm of rain in last 24 hours. Comilla, Khepupara and Feni have recorded 169 mm, 153 mm and 148 mm of rain, respectively.
Reason for heavy rain
The well-marked low over Odisha and westcentral Bay of Bengal has been there for about 5 days and is moving across Odisha, Bengal, Bihar, Northeast India and Bangladesh. During retreating monsoon these systems have a tendency to recurve and go towards East and Northeast India giving spells of heavy rain, which is exactly the case at the moment.
Forecast
Meanwhile, rainfall is going to reduce in intensity as well as in spacial coverage over the next two days. However, flood situation may continue as rivers keep responding even after cessation of rain. Overall improvement in the condition is possible only by the weekend, when rain will become minimal and river waters will start receding.
