Flooded streets, poor drainage frustrate locals
Guwahati: A spell of rain on Saturday provided much-needed relief from the sweltering heat but also exposed the city's persistent drainage issues, with several areas facing severe waterlogging yet again.
According to the IMD, the city recorded 11.3 mm of rainfall. While not a heavy downpour, it was enough to flood areas like Beltola Wireless, Dakhingaon, Hatigaon, and Rukminigaon.
In Rukminigaon, severe inundation forced people to stay indoors, though some residents deployed a rubber boat to assist those affected.
"It has become a part of our daily lives. Water enters our homes and takes hours to drain. Some residents have already started relocating," said Nirupam Datta, a resident of Rukminigaon.
Hatigaon and Beltola Wireless were also flooded. Moni Rai, a restaurant owner in Beltola, said, "A cool shower after this heat would be great—if only the drains could handle it. I had to close my restaurant because the water level was too high, and no customers showed up." Incidents of fallen trees were reported in Beharbari and Geetanagar.
Follow more information on
Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad here
. Get
real-time live updates
on rescue operations and check
full list of passengers onboard AI 171
.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
Southwest monsoon to advance over Gujarat, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh and Odisha in next 24 hours: IMD
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast further progress of the southwest monsoon. In the next 24 hours, it is expected to advance into parts of Gujarat, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha. Over the following three days, it is likely to spread to parts of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, and East Uttar Pradesh. The southwest monsoon, crucial for kharif agriculture, has already covered southern states, north eastern states and some parts of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha. There is good news for residents of northwest India who have been reeling under severe heat. The IMD has forecast a significant dip in maximum temperatures—by 3 to 5 degrees Celsius—over the region in the next 24 hours. Central India, on the other hand, will see little change in daytime temperatures for now, followed by a gradual drop of 2 to 4 degrees Celsius over the subsequent five days. On Saturday, Churu in Rajasthan recorded a searing maximum of 46.5°C. Many parts of East Uttar Pradesh, North Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh continued to witness scorching conditions with temperatures in the 42–46°C range. Amid strong winds and heavy rain activity, the IMD has advised fishermen not to venture into the sea from 15 to 20 June. Dangerous conditions are expected over the Arabian Sea and adjoining regions, including the coasts off Somalia, Oman, Yemen, Comorin, Konkan, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep and the Maldives. Conditions are expected to be rough in the southeast and east-central Arabian Sea as well as off the South and entire Gujarat coasts. IMD has predicted light to moderate rainfall across most parts of Gujarat between 15 and 17 June, accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds. Between 15 and 21 June, light to moderate rainfall is expected across Gujarat, with isolated heavy showers in Konkan and Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Saurashtra and Kutch. Extremely heavy rainfall—over 20 cm in 24 hours—is forecast at isolated spots in Konkan and Goa on 15 and 16 June, suggesting an intense monsoon spell. From 15 to 20 June, light to moderate rainfall is expected across a broad swathe of eastern and central India. Areas likely to be affected include the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Gangetic West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha. The weather is also expected to turn stormy in some places, with the IMD warning of possible thundersqualls over Jharkhand, West and East Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Bihar on 15 and 16 June. The IMD has also forecast light to moderate rainfall over parts of northwest India between 15 and 21 June. These showers may be accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds. Thundersquall activity is expected over Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan during this period. Additionally, isolated heavy rainfall is likely over Uttarakhand, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh through the week.
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
From the Opinions Editor: Dealing with heat waves and floods is a knowledge challenge
Dear Express Reader, The first half of 2025 has been a textbook case of the chaos wrought on weather systems by climate change. It has been another hot year, but the record-breaking temperatures have not been during the summer months. People in India experienced the hottest January since 1958. By February, not only was the cool weather in retreat, but the rising temperatures had also obscured spring in several parts of the country. It was the hottest that India has been in the second month of the year since 1900 – the national average temperature was 1.35 degrees above normal. The IMD issued its first heatwave alert for the summer as early as April. But May had none of the scorching temperatures usually associated with the month. Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru set rainfall-related records. Heat returned to North India in the first half of June. Showers have brought some relief to the people and like parts of South India and Maharashtra, the region could experience an early rainy season if the IMD forecast holds true. In recent years, another factor has made the hot weather more taxing for Indians. In several parts of the country, the summer months are becoming stressful not just because of the high temperature. The moisture in the air inhibits the body's ability to cool down through the natural mechanism of sweating. The strain is felt most acutely by outdoor workers – like construction workers, farmers, street vendors and food delivery partners. A growing body of scholarship shows that their bodies are exposed to heat all day and do not get a chance to cool down even during the night. A World Bank study shows that more than 34 million jobs in India could be at risk in the next five years due to heat exposure. Between 2001 and 2020, India lost around 259 billion hours of labour—worth US$ 624 billion (INR 46 lakh crore) annually—due to extreme heat and humidity. The humidity is the result of multiple weather systems around the country which, in turn, are fuelled by the general warming of the the seas. If this wasn't enough, the atmospheric instability caused by moist winds from the Bay of Bengal has left its mark in several parts of the country. More than 150 people lost their lives due to lightning strikes in March and April – a more than 180 per cent rise compared to last year. Bihar's disaster management authority records show that lightning strikes claimed more than 90 lives between April 9 and April 14. The state has always been a hotspot for lightning-related calamities. But these would typically happen in June-July. Rain brings some relief but also leaves disruption in its wake. This year, the earliest onset of the monsoon over Mumbai coincided with the city breaking a 100-year-old record for rainfall in May. Large parts of India's financial capital, including a newly-built Metro station, went under water reminding policymakers of the vulnerability of the country's economy to climate risks. The downpour exposed at least 50 new waterlogging sites in the city. In the past two weeks, several parts of Pune have been inundated. Bengaluru too has experienced disruptive floods and parts of northeast have been badly hit by landslides. The growing threat of climate stress calls for urgent mid- and long-term strategies—both structural and non-structural—to limit economic and social fallout. But first things first. Climate change and erratic weather are contributing factors: The underlying issues related to many of the problems faced by people relate to longstanding systemic gaps in planning, land use, and infrastructure management. Experts have underlined that most Indian cities are about 2 degrees C hotter than nearby rural areas. The concrete, asphalt and bricks used for urban infrastructure, roads, buildings and pavements, soak up and retain heat. These materials are part of an engineering paradigm that relies on the use of strong materials to construct sturdy offices, houses and roads. The belief that they would withstand all kinds of weather hasn't proved unfounded. But it's increasingly become evident that buildings are a source of extreme nighttime heat worldwide, including India. Cities are both a product of people's aspirations and harbingers of their progress. But urban authorities in India have paid short shrift to the natural capacities of cities to deal with excess water. Whether in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, or Delhi, urban development—planned and unplanned — has meant the loss of natural water sinks, exacerbating their vulnerability to climate risks. It's now evident that most of India will live in cities in the coming years. Will these cities be heat resilient? How will they deal with short but intense bursts of rainfall? Climate science has helped us why we live in unpredictable times. The challenge now is to come to terms with the chaos. Green buildings and climate-friendly planning are now part of the curricula in some of the top engineering and architecture institutes. That will not be enough. Climate-proofing cities require a paradigm shift in construction science curricula across the country. Technology is, however, only a part of the challenge. The weather vagaries pose broader questions to knowledge and pedagogical systems — they are as serious as the questions posed by AI and automation. The environment has become mainstream to an extent. But all too often in educational institutes, it's another box to be ticked. Climate-proofing habitats and making people resilient to weather vagaries requires classrooms to engage with heat, rain, lightning, mountains, oceans, rivers, lakes, and drains as part of the lived realities of communities – the beginning should be made in schools. Till next time, Stay well Kaushik
The Hindu
3 hours ago
- The Hindu
Blistering heat continues in north, central India; hills scorch
A relentless heatwave continued to scorch large parts of north and central India for the sixth consecutive day on Saturday, with maximum temperatures exceeding 45 degrees Celsius in several cities and high temperatures reported in parts of the hilly states. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said maximum temperatures remained more than 5.1 degrees Celsius above the seasonal average in parts of Himachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya and at isolated places in sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim. Temperatures were also appreciably above normal in many areas of Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir. Experts warn that persistent heat in these hilly regions could lead to faster glacier melt, increase the risk of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) and intensify forest fire vulnerability. Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar and Churu were among the hottest places in the country on Saturday, each recording a maximum of 46.5 degrees Celsius, 5 and 4.1 degrees above normal, respectively. In Uttar Pradesh, Prayagraj and Kanpur recorded highs of 45 and 44.9 degrees Celsius, while Ghazipur (44.5) logged a departure of 6.3 degrees above normal. In Madhya Pradesh, Hoshangabad reported 45.2 degrees Celsius, followed by Khajuraho (44.7 degrees), Nowgong (44.6 degrees) and Gwalior (42.5 degrees). Rohtak in Haryana recorded 44.3 degrees Celsius, while Chandigarh reported 42.2 degrees Celsius. In Punjab, Patiala and Amritsar saw temperatures of 42.6 and 42 degrees Celsius, respectively. The national capital also experienced scorching conditions, with maximum temperatures of 42.2 degrees Celsius at Aya Nagar and 42 degrees Celsius at Palam. The heat index, a measure of how hot it feels when humidity is factored in, soared to an alarming 53.8 degrees Celsius in Delhi. India experienced a relatively cooler May this year due to the early arrival of the monsoon and frequent thunderstorms in the northwest and central regions. But a sharp drop in rainfall since early June has caused temperatures to rise rapidly, triggering widespread heatwave conditions since June 8-9. Even parts of the hill states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir have been experiencing hotter-than-usual weather over the last few days. According to the IMD's extended range forecast, the monsoon is now likely to cover the remaining parts of central and eastern India and some areas of northwest India by June 18. It is expected to advance over most of northwest India between June 19 and June 25. An IMD official said the system is likely to reach Delhi by June 22-23, ahead of the normal onset date of June 30. The southwest monsoon usually makes its onset over Kerala by June 1, reaches Mumbai by June 11 and covers the entire country by July 8. It starts retreating from northwest India around September 17 and withdraws completely by October 15. Severe and frequent heatwaves are making life harder for low-income households with limited access to water and cooling. Experts warn that outdoor workers, the elderly, and children are at high risk of heat exhaustion and heatstroke. Last year, hospitals in India reported nearly 48,000 cases of heatstroke and 159 deaths due to extreme heat. Between 2015 and 2022, 8,171 people died due to extreme heat outside hospitals, according to National Crime Records Bureau data. Health Ministry records accessed by PTI show that 3,812 heat-related deaths occurred in hospitals during the same period. However, experts say India's fragmented death reporting system and difficulties in directly linking deaths to heat exposure mean the actual toll is likely much higher.
