Amid heavy rainfall across several states, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday issued red alert warnings for multiple districts in Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, northern Punjab, northern Haryana, eastern Rajasthan, southwest Uttar Pradesh, northwest and eastern Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha.
The updated nowcast predicts moderate to intense spells of rain over the next three hours in these regions, posing risks of flash floods, landslides, and waterlogging.
In Jammu & Kashmir, districts under red alert include Poonch, Mirpur, Rajouri, Reasi, Jammu, Ramban, Udhampur, Samba, Kathua, Doda, and Kishtwar. In Punjab, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Nawanshahr, Rupnagar, Moga, Ludhiana, Barnala, and Sangrur are under warning. Himachal Pradesh has placed Mandi, Una, Bilaspur, Sirmaur, and Solan on red alert, while in Haryana, Yamuna Nagar, Ambala, Kurukshetra, Panchkula, and SAS Nagar face similar warnings.
Between 8:30 am on Tuesday and 5:30 am on Wednesday, several regions in Jammu & Kashmir received extremely heavy rainfall. Reasi recorded the highest at 203 mm, followed by Katra at 193 mm, Batote at 157.3 mm, Doda at 114 mm, and Baderwah at 96.2 mm. Jammu city itself registered 81 mm, while Banihal (95 mm), Ramban (82 mm), Kokernag (68.2 mm), and Pahalgam (55 mm) also reported heavy showers.
Rainfall was also recorded in Srinagar (32 mm), Samba (48 mm), Kishtwar (50 mm), Rajouri (57.4 mm), and Qazigund (68 mm) during the same period. Fresh data up to 6:45 am on September 3 indicated extremely heavy rainfall in Reasi, reaching 230.5 mm.
Beyond Jammu & Kashmir, widespread rainfall was observed in other parts of the country. From 8:30 pm Tuesday to 5:30 am Wednesday, Chhattisgarh witnessed heavy rainfall, while moderate showers occurred in Haryana, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, coastal Odisha, coastal Maharashtra, coastal Karnataka, and the Andaman Islands.
Meanwhile, as a precautionary measure, the Directorate of School Education, Jammu, announced that all government and private schools across Jammu Division will remain closed on September 3 due to the inclement weather.
(With inputs from ANI)