Monsoon Fury Batters Several States, Disrupts Normal Life Across North, West India

Roads and residential areas remained submerged in several cities, with commuters wading through knee-deep water and traffic crawling on major roads and highways. Trees uprooted by strong winds blocked roads at several places, while flooding disrupted vehicular movement and damaged houses.

Rescue operations also continued at the site of a building that collapsed a day earlier at a waste-to-energy plant in Maharashtra’s Pimpri Chinchwad near Pune after a massive mound of garbage gave way due to heavy rain.

One body was recovered on Thursday, while around eight people are still feared trapped under the debris. Nine people have been rescued so far.

Delhi witnessed one of its heaviest spells of rain this season, with widespread waterlogging, uprooted trees and traffic snarls throwing life out of gear.

The India Meteorological Department issued a 'red' alert for the day as the Safdarjung, the capital's base weather station, recorded 72.6 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours that ended at 8.30 am.

Waterlogging was reported from Vikas Marg, parts of east Delhi, New Delhi railway station, Munirka, Sadar Bazar, and Dwarka. Traffic crawled on the Delhi-Noida Expressway. In parts of Jangpura, pedestrians and vehicles waded through knee-high water. Two-wheeler riders were seen pushing their vehicles through inundated streets.

Several commuters and residents took to social media to share their ordeal.

Chief Minister Rekha Gupta inspected the drainage arrangements in Shalimar Village in her assembly constituency and directed officials to ensure proper water drainage, while Public Works Department (PWD) minister Parvesh Sahib Singh also visited the PWD's control at ITO to review the dewatering arrangements and said that in most cases the stagnant water was removed and the "situation is better than in previous years".

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) said it has cleared 57,000 metric tonnes (MT) of silt from stormwater drains till now and announced that a dedicated 24/7 helpline is also being set up for waterlogging-related complaints.

In neighbouring Gurugram, a section of the balcony of a luxury apartment complex collapsed on a rain-soaked Thursday morning, though no injuries were reported.

Among other parts of the national capital region, widespread waterlogging and traffic disruptions were reported from Noida, Ghaziabad, Ghazipur and Faridabad.

In Noida, areas including Sectors 16, 33, 12, 62 and parts of the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway were inundated, leaving vehicles stranded and forcing commuters to wade through flooded roads.

Severe waterlogging near the Ghazipur border on National Highway-9 triggered long traffic snarls on the Delhi-Ghaziabad route.

The Ghaziabad district administration declared a holiday in government schools as authorities grappled with rain-induced disruption.

A section of road in Ghaziabad's Vasundhara caved in beside an under-construction basement following heavy rainfall, sending a parked car and a scooter into the pit. No one was injured in the incident.

In Rajasthan, widespread rainfall soaked parts of the state, with the Met department forecasting extremely heavy rainfall in isolated areas of Kota and Bharatpur divisions on Thursday.

Badesar and Nimbahera in Chittorgarh district, and Bayana in Bharatpur district recorded nine centimetres of rainfall -- the highest in the state during the 24 hours ending Thursday morning.

Heavy rainfall is likely to continue at isolated places in the Bharatpur division and adjoining districts on July 10, while rainfall activity is expected to decline in the rest of the state.

Uttarakhand remained on high alert as incessant rainfall over the last 24 hours triggered landslides and raised river levels. Traffic was disrupted on 107 routes, including nine state highways. The IMD issued a 'red' alert for seven district, including Dehradun.

In view of the heavy rain warning, the Dehradun district administration declared a holiday on Friday for all government, government-aided and private schools, as well as anganwadi centres. The IMD has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall, thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and intense spells of rain in the district over the next 24 hours.

The IMD announced on Thursday that the southwest monsoon has further advanced into the remaining parts of Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab, covering the entire country.

So far in July, India has witnessed a large surplus of rainfall. While the normal rainfall in the first nine days of the month is 73.8 mm, the country as a whole has seen 101.9 mm of rainfall.

As heavy rains continued in parts of Kerala, the IMD on Thursday issued an orange alert in three districts of the state for the day. The IMD issued an orange alert in the districts of Malappuram, Kozhikode, and Wayanad.

It also issued a yellow alert in six other districts -- Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad, Kannur and Kasaragod -- for the day.

An orange alert indicates very heavy rain of 115mm to 204 mm, and a yellow alert means heavy rainfall between 64 mm and 115 mm.

The death toll in the Wayanad landslide rose to five on Thursday after two more bodies were recovered from the disaster site, while three persons remained missing.

The landslide occurred on July 7 at the site of the Anakkompoyil-Meppadi tunnel project, which is being undertaken to improve connectivity between Wayanad and Kozhikode districts.

Monsoon-related incidents have claimed three lives and forced the evacuation of nearly 800 persons across Thane district in Maharashtra in the past week, while a lightning strike in the latest weather-related incident left two persons injured, officials said on Thursday.

Torrential downpours have caused widespread disruption, forcing emergency teams to rescue and shift 797 persons from 229 families to safer locations, they said.