Bengal braces for a wet week: Heavy rainfall, flooding feared in North Bengal, thunderstorms to continue in South Bengal
The weather office also issued a warning for heavy to extremely heavy rainfall over North Bengal for the next two days, raising concerns about the possibility of localised flooding.
'The upper air cyclonic circulation over northeast Bihar & neighbourhood lay over northwest Bihar & adjoining northeast Uttar Pradesh and extended up to 4.5 km above mean sea level tilting southwestwards with height.
'The monsoon trough at mean sea level passed through Amritsar, Chandigarh, Shamli, Shahjahanpur, Lucknow, Chapra, Bankura, Canning, and thence southeastwards to the northeast Bay of Bengal. Under the presence of the above meteorological conditions and strong moisture incursion, widespread light to moderate rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall activity with extremely heavy rainfall at one or two places very likely over North Bengal during the next two days,' reads the IMD bulletin.
The IMD has issued a Red alert (Take Action) for Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar districts for Sunday, forecasting extremely heavy rainfall exceeding 20 cm at isolated places. Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Coochbehar are under an Orange alert (Be Prepared), with heavy to very heavy rain (7-20 cm) forecast at isolated locations. Meanwhile, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, and Malda have been issued a Yellow alert (Be Aware), with heavy rainfall (7-11 cm) likely at one or two places.
All North Bengal districts are expected to receive light to moderate rain or thundershowers at most places throughout the week.
A moderate flash flood risk remains for watershed areas and hilly neighbourhoods in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, and Alipurduar over the next 24 hours. IMD has also warned of landslide risks, localised flooding, traffic congestion, and possible damage to kutcha houses and roads. The public has been advised to avoid vulnerable areas, monitor river levels, and restrict movement in landslide-prone zones.
In South Bengal, the IMD has issued a Yellow alert for most districts for Sunday. It said that Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas, East and West Midnapore, Nadia, Murshidabad, and Bankura districts might experience thunderstorms with gusty winds (30-40 kmph) at isolated places. Some South Bengal districts are expected to receive isolated heavy rainfall (7-11 cm) in the middle of the week.
Kolkata is expected to have cloudy and humid weather, with light to moderate rain or thundershowers in the next 24 hours. The maximum temperature is expected to be around 32.2 degree Celsius, while the minimum temperature may remain close to 28.4 degree Celsius. Relative humidity will stay high, ranging between 75 per cent and 96 per cent. The city recorded 009.0 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours.
(Anisha Ghosh is an intern with The Indian Express)
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