Thunderstorms, landslides rock North India as incessant monsoon batters four states

• As many as 36 people lost their lives in the last 24 hours in Uttar Pradesh, due to lightning, drawing and more.
  
• Eight people lost their lives in Uttar Pradesh after rains caused landslides, blocked highways and more.
  
• On Sunday, Delhi recorded its highest rainfall in a single day in July since 1982.
  

North India woke up to incessant heavy rains on Monday, and the central and state governments are taking note of the situation to tackle the situation.

Four states – Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab are seeing incessant rains after a late start to the monsoon, leading to thunderstorms, landslides, death and destruction.

Lightning, drowning & more claim 26 lives in UP

Uttar Pradesh has been one of the worst affected as the extreme heavy downpour has claimed 36 lives in the last 24 hours. According to information from the relief commissioner’s office, 17 people died due to lightning strike, 12 due to drowning, and seven due to heavy rainfall.

Rainfall was witnessed in around 68 of the state’s 75 districts, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) data.

In the last 24 hours alone, the state received 56% higher than normal or “excess” rainfall -- 13.6 mm against the normal of 8.7 mm, the weather data showed.

Avoid travel in Himachal, says MET department

The Meteorological Office is predicting heavy to extremely heavy rain on a third consecutive day on Monday in Himachal Pradesh. Rains had already wreaked havoc causing statewide landslides and blocking of highways and link roads and caused the deaths of eight people.

The government advised people to avoid travel until it is extremely necessary. “Moderate to heavy rainfall accompanied with thunderstorms is very likely to continue in the districts of Bilaspur, Solan, Shimla, Sirmaur, Una, Hamirpur, Mandi and Kullu,” an official of the Meteorological Office here told IANS.

The state government also announced that all schools and colleges will be closed on Monday and Tuesday.

According to the state police, traffic in Solan district on the Chandigarh-Shimla national highway is currently running in a single lane due to slides and debris in other lanes.

Water enters homes in Haryana, Punjab

Many areas in Punjab and Haryana too came under the effect of heavy rains with water logging, traffic snarls and more on Sunday — after rains lashed the states for two consecutive days,

Areas like Panchkula, Yamunanagar, Ambala, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Sonipat among other places in Haryana; while Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohali, Rupnagar and Patiala in Punjab received heavy showers, a Met official here said.

At some places in the two states, water entered houses causing inconvenience to the people. In Ambala in Haryana, rain water also entered several shops at the wholesale cloth market.

Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, continued to receive heavy showers. It has been raining heavily in the Union Territory since Saturday. More rains have been forecast in parts of Haryana and Punjab during the day.

Delhi receives highest rainfall in 41 years

The capital city also came under the dark clouds. On Sunday, Delhi recorded its highest rainfall in a single day in July since 1982. Added to that, authorities cautioned over rising water levels of the Yamuna, after Haryana released more than one lakh cusecs of water into the Yamuna river from the Hathnikund barrage.

An interaction between a Western Disturbance and monsoonal winds is leading to an intense rainfall spell over northwest India, including Delhi, which experienced the season's first "very heavy" rainfall on Saturday.

"In view of the torrential rains in the last two days and keeping in mind the warnings of the meteorological department, all schools will remain closed on Monday," Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.

NCR is also in trouble, as rain water entered houses in Kota Colony of Gurugram. The administration however came to the rescue of the residents by providing them with food and drinking water.

Torrential rains caused waterlogging at many places in Gurugram, and Kota Colony of Badshahpur was submerged in a way. The district Red Cross Society formed a special team after getting to know about the colony.

Arvind Kejriwal & Amit Shah swing to action

The country’s home minister and Delhi’s chief minister are holding meetings and taking stock of the rain situation.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold a meeting at the Delhi Secretariat on Monday to discuss waterlogging caused by torrential rains in the city and Yamuna's rising water levels, officials said. It will be attended by senior officials of the Irrigation and Flood Control department and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday took stock of the situation in the wake of incessant rains as he spoke to the chief ministers of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, and the lieutenant governors of Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir, sources said. The home minister assured them all central help in tackling the arising situation.

The sources said Shah spoke to the chief ministers of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and took updates about losses due to the rains.

In view of the heavy rains in the national capital, the home minister also spoke to Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena and took updates.

(WIth inputs from PTI & IANS)