The monsoon season in India has turned deadly, with heavy rains and floods causing widespread devastation across the country. Mumbai, a city known for its vulnerability to monsoon fury, has been particularly hard hit. Since Monday morning, the city has been experiencing torrential downpours leading to severe waterlogging, crippling traffic jams, and disruptions to local train services and flight operations. The downpours are expected to continue throughout the week, prompting authorities to close schools and junior colleges in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Panvel, Pune, and Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for several states, including Karnataka, Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, and Maharashtra, warning of extremely heavy rainfall. An orange alert has also been issued for Assam and Meghalaya.
The incessant rainfall in Mumbai has prompted the IMD to issue a high tide alert, raising concerns about potential flooding in low-lying areas. Beyond Mumbai, the IMD has forecasted heavy to moderate rainfall in several districts of Maharashtra, including Palghar, Thane, Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Nasik, Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Sangli, Sholapur, Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani, Beed, Hingoli, Nanded, Latur, Osmanabad, Akola, Amravati, Bhandara, Buldhana, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Nagpur, Wardha, Washim, and Yavatmal, until July 12.
Further inland, the Saryu River in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, has risen close to the danger mark due to heavy rainfall in the temple city. The rising water level poses a threat to devotees who visit Ayodhya to glimpse Ram Lalla and take a holy dip in the Saryu River. The Central Water Commission (Ayodhya) Junior Engineer Aman Chaudhary has warned that the water level is likely to rise further and urged people to avoid entering the river.
The monsoon havoc has also reached Assam, where the state is grappling with its worst floods in years. Another six people died in Assam in the last 24 hours, taking the flood-related death toll in the state to 72. Over 22.74 lakh people in 28 districts are still affected by the deluge, with more than 3.69 lakh people taking shelter in 630 relief camps.
Karnataka is also experiencing heavy rainfall, prompting the Dakshina Kannada district administration to issue a red alert for Tuesday. The Met department has predicted heavy rainfall, leading to the closure of schools and colleges in Mangaluru on Tuesday. An orange alert has also been issued for the district.
In Uttarakhand, the Meteorological Centre has predicted heavy rainfall over several parts of the state until July 10. The weather office has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall in many places, with extremely heavy rainfall in isolated areas in the Kumaon region. The state government has appealed to all residents to stay in safe areas and remain cautious due to the potential disasters caused by heavy rains. The state government has also launched rescue operations, evacuating around 400 people from flood-affected areas.
