Heavy rains lash Jharkhand, wet spell to continue till Aug 3

RANCHI: Several districts including state capital Ranchi received moderate to heavy rainfall on Friday, throwing normal life out of gear. With the Monsoon season staying strong, the weather department has predicted that the wet spell is likely to continue in Jharkhand, with few pockets expected to receive heavy rainfall, till early next week.

Almost the entire state started witnessing rainfall since Friday morning, with few pockets receiving heavy rain. The weather department issued a red alert, isolated heavy to extremely heavy rainfall, for almost twothirds of the 24 districts in the state till Saturday morning.

“The current spell of rain in the state is due to the low pressure system that has built up over Bengal and Jharkhand. On Friday, its impact was felt largely across northeastern and central districts of the state. It is likely to remain so over the next 24 hours. Gradually, the system would move towards the western and northwestern parts of the state before shifting over Bihar and southern Uttar Pradesh,” said Abhishek Anand, director in-charge, Meteorological Centre, Jharkhand.

Some areas that received heavy rain in past 24 hours include Latehar (102mm),

Amrapara (92mm), Chatra (90.5mm) and Mandar (84.8mm), Anand said.

The weekly outlook for the state shows the spell of heavy to extremely heavy rains is expected to continue till August 3 in several parts. While current to heavy rainfall is expected to continue till Saturday in northeastern and central districts, western and northeastern districts would receive heavy rains August 2 and 3 after a relatively clear day August 1. According to officials, Jharkhand has witnessed a normal monsoon this year. It received 513.7mm rain from June 1 to July 31, which is normal with zero departure from the expected rainfall.