Weather news: Pune gets heavy rainfall, Ludhiana waterlogged, Chandigarh drainage unprepared — top updates

Weather today, June 18: After over two-weeks halt, India's monsoon is back with a bang, progressing over Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal during the week, data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) showed.

In the national capital, the weather department has issued an orange alert, and predicted “moderate to heavy rain” along with lightning and thunderstorms in the night today (June 18), as per a PTI report. It also predicted winds between 40-50 km/per hour speed during the night.

Speaking to Reuters, two senior weather officials with the IMD, said that India has so far received 31 per cent less rain, compared to average in the first half of June. They are however optimistic that the month's second half with show a turnaround and record above average rainfall.

“Monsoon rains are set to progress quickly in the next few days and could cover most parts of the country before the end of June,” the official told Reuters.

Heavy rains, metro construction bring Pune to a halt

According to local publication My Pune Pulse, thousands of commuters travelling from the Pune IT corridor of Hinjewadi were met with traffic snarls as a combination of heavy rainfall, metro construction and bad road conditions played truant on June 17.

It added that neither the MIDC or Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) had issued statements despite numerous commuter complaints on social media.

Meanwhile, according to a Times of India report, Pune district's Lonavla region recieved 123mm of rainfall overnight on June 16, followed by Girivan which got 84mm rain, and Bhor which recorded 80mm rainfall over the past 24 hours.

An IMD official told the paper that this rainfall intensity is expected to last through the week, due to a cyclonic circulation over south Gujarat, leading to widespread rainfall activity over Maharashtra's coastal and ghat regions.

Light rains leave Ludhiana under water

Light, pre-monsoon spells in Ludhiana left the city waterlogged within hours, as its inadequate drainage infrastructure collapsed, Hindustan Times reported.

This comes despite the municiple authority last week assuring of preventive measures in vulnerable areas and stating that 90 per cent of the drain cleaning work has been completed. Brief showers on June 17 left roads knee-deep in water and caused traffic jams, inconviniencing citizens, the report added.

The worst hit areas were Chandigarh Road, Dhandari, Ferozepur road, Focal Point, Giaspura, Jeevan Nagar, Rahon Road, Transport Nagar, and Vardhaman Chowk, were among the worst-hit places, it added.

Chandigarh drains to be clogged this year too?

According to another HT report, cleaning work for only 72 per cent of Chandigarh's 30,452 drains has been completed as of June 17, despite the city registering rains already, mounting concerns over waterlogging this year too.

The report also highlighted that in low-lying and vulnerable areas such as Charan Singh Colony, Daria, Mauli Jagran Complex, Raipur Kalan, Shivalik Enclave, Sunder Nagar, and Vikas Nagar, only about 50 per cent of the drains have been cleaned due to manpower shortage.

This leaves them “highly susceptible” to flooding during even moderate spells of rain, the report noted. Last year, residents in these areas had reported water stagnating for more than 12 hours, it said.

(With inputs from Agencies)