Rain, after scorching heat, brings relief in several states

AFTER SIZZLING temperatures in April and early May, several parts of the country saw moderate to very heavy rainfall Wednesday and Thursday, and more was expected in the next few days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said Friday.

The highest rainfall — 130mm — was recorded at Sothuparai, in the foothills of the Western Ghats, in Tamil Nadu’s Theni district between Thursday and Friday morning, the IMD said. Thrithala in Kerala’s Palakkad district recorded 120 mm rainfall while Alur in Rayalaseema, Andhra Pradesh, and Kalaikunda in West Midnapore, West Bengal, received 90 mm rain each.

According to the IMD, 64.5124.4 of rainfall is s categorised as ‘heavy’ rain, while 124.5-244.4 mm is ‘very heavy’ rain.

Uttarakhand, which has seen raging forest fires in the past weeks, and other hill-states such as Himachal Pradesh and Assam also recorded moderate to heavy rainfall. In Bengaluru and Hyderabad, a heavy downpour caused waterlogging in parts of the city over the last two days. The Bengaluru airport Met station recorded over 70mm rainfall leading to diversion of flights.

According to the IMD scientists, while a western disturbance was behind rainfall in the northern hill-states, the other areas received rain due to favourable wind conditions and high moisture incursion from the Bay of Bengal.

File Western disturbance behind rain in northern hill-states.