A deep depression over eastern India has prompted the India Meteorological Department to issue a red alert for Odisha, Chhattisgarh and the Vidarbha region.
The system is currently positioned over north interior Odisha and the adjoining Gangetic West Bengal region, moving west-northwestwards at roughly 12 kilometres per hour.
According to the IMD, the depression is expected to move across north Odisha, south Jharkhand and north Chhattisgarh in the next 24 hours, bringing heavy to very heavy rainfall.
Some areas under the red alert could receive extremely heavy rain exceeding 204.5 millimetres, raising concerns about flooding and waterlogging in low-lying areas.
An orange alert has also been issued for Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab, western Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, where heavy to very heavy rainfall is forecast.
Additional rain alerts cover Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar, with warnings of thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds.
The IMD has urged people in hilly areas to stay alert for landslides and advised motorists to avoid waterlogged stretches of road wherever possible.
Officials said the depression’s path would be tracked closely, with fresh forecasts and warnings to follow as the system progresses further inland.
The IMD said in a press release on July 28 that monsoon rainfall over northwest and central India is expected to be normal to above normal over the next four to five days, with the monsoon trough forecast to hold close to its normal position during the week.
Red alerts from the IMD are reserved for situations warranting immediate action, urging state disaster management authorities to prepare for potential large-scale disruption to travel, power supply and daily life.
The IMD typically classifies a weather system as a deep depression when sustained wind speeds near its centre reach between 51 and 61 kilometres per hour, one step below a full cyclonic storm in intensity.
(Image: Photo by McKay Savage from London, UK, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)
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