Brace for heavy to very heavy rain from Friday; IMD issues alert for 5 days

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday issued yellow and orange alerts for heavy and very heavy rain coupled with thunderstorms and lightning at isolated places in Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana for five days beginning Friday.

The weathermen has issued an orange alert for heavy to very heavy rainfall on Saturday while heavy rain is predicted on Friday and Sunday to Tuesday.

After a sudden and heavy spell of rain in the northern sectors of Chandigarh on Tuesday evening, the Tricity region comprising Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula on Wednesday experienced scattered and light downpour in afternoon and evening.

The IMD has predicted that the region is likely to witness partly cloudy sky on Thursday followed by rain and thunderstorms for next five days from Friday with maximum and minimum temperature to remain between 31 and 23 degree Celsius, respectively.

On Tuesday, the northern sectors of Chandigarh were flooded after 35-mm rainfall inundated most parts of Sector 1 to 26 in knee-deep water. The downpour, which began after 5.30 PM, continued for almost an hour, throwing normal life out of gear after the Madhya Marg grid and other major roads and junctions of the city witnessed massive traffic jams and chaos till late evening.

The massive waterlogging once again exposed the inefficiency and indifferent attitude of the Municipal Corporation authorities.

Surprisingly, the IMD’s observatory at DAV School in Sector 7 recorded 35-mm rainfall between 5.30 PM and 7 PM while no downpour was experienced at IMD’s two other observatories in the city at Sector 39 and IAF station. Mohali witnessed no downpour and Panchkula saw light to medium rainfall.

Following the scattered rainfall for the past two days, Chandigarh recorded a maximum of 33.4 and minimum temperature of 25.2 degree Celsius, which was 2.7 and 0.2 degree less than Tuesday's and 0.6 above and 0.3 degree below normal, respectively.

While Panchkula logged 33.7 and 24.5 degree Celsius, Mohali measured 32 and 26.4 degree Celsius maximum and minimum temperature, respectively.

The weathermen recorded 1mm rainfall in Mohali, followed by 0.5-mm in Panchkula and 0.4-mm in Chandigarh during the day.