A red alert has been issued for Telangana for three days by the Indian Meteorological Department. The IMD has forecast that the state would receive ‘very heavy to extremely heavy’ rainfall for three days, starting from July 21 till July 23. The red alert classifies the risk level as ‘high,’ asking officials to be on alert and take necessary precautionary measures. The rainfall would cause flooding in low-lying areas. water pooling on roads, crops getting submerged, etc, IMD said.
On Wednesday, July 21, ‘very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall was likely to occur at isolated places in Asifabad, Mancherial, Jagtial, Peddapalli, Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Mulugu, and Bhadradri Kothagudem districts; while ‘heavy to very heavy’ rain was very likely to occur in parts of Adilabad, Nirmal, Nizamabad, Rajanna Sirsilla, Karimnagar, Mulugu, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Khammam,Mahabubabad, Warangal (Rural),Warangal (Urban), Siddipet, and Kamareddy districts.
The IMD further predicted that parts of Nalgonda, Suryapet, Janagaon,Yadadri Bhuvangiri, Rangareddy, Hyderabad, Medchal Malkajgiri, Vikarabad, Sangareddy and Medak districts will receive heavy rainfall. Along with that, thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and gusty winds (speed up to 30-40 kmph) were very likely to occur at isolated places across the state, IMD said.
However, in Hyderabad, the sky would be generally cloudy and the city would receive ‘moderate to heavy’ rains or thundershowers. The situation would remain the same for the next two days, IMD said.
As per the IMD weather bulletin issued at 4 pm, on Wednesday, Asifabad recorded the highest rainfall of 11 cm.
“A cyclonic circulation lays over northwest Bay of Bengal and neighbourhood and extends up to 3.1 kms to 7.6 kms above mean sea level tilting southwestwards with height. Under this influence, a low-pressure area is very likely to form over northwest Bay of Bengal and neighbourhood during the next 48 hours, causing widespread rainfall in the next two-three days,” said IMD Hyderabad scientist K Naga Ratna.