By Flash flood alerts are in force across eight states and two union territories, with the IMD warning of very heavy rainfall over the coming days.
The affected states are Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, along with the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Chhattisgarh is expected to see the most intense rainfall, with isolated areas forecast to cross 204.5mm and districts including Gaurela, Pendra, Marwahi, Balrampur and Surguja under an extremely heavy rain warning.
In Odisha, northern districts such as Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sundargarh and Sambalpur face flash flood risk, with strong coastal winds of 40-50 kmph also forecast.
Alert durations vary by state, with Uttarakhand’s warning running the longest, through September 8, while most other regions remain under alert through September 2.
The IMD said the alert period varies by region, with some warnings running through September 2 and others extending as far as September 7 depending on local conditions.
Uttarakhand is separately forecast to see very heavy rainfall through September 8, one of the longer alert windows among the affected states.
Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are both under flash flood warnings, adding to the list of hill and northern regions bracing for the current spell.
IMD’s flash flood warnings are typically issued when very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall is expected in a short window, raising the risk of sudden waterlogging, landslides and river-level surges.
Authorities in the affected districts have been advised to remain on alert, particularly in areas prone to landslides or where rivers and streams could rise rapidly during the heaviest spells.
The current alert spans a wide geographic band from the Himalayan foothills in the north to Chhattisgarh and Odisha in central and eastern India, reflecting an active monsoon system moving across the country.
NASA Earth Observatory, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5 (representative monsoon rainfall image)
