Heavy Rains Update: IMD Issues Red Alert For Bengal, Sikkim; Orange Alert Issued For Assam, Meghalaya

“Potential isolated Heavy to Very heavy with Extremely heavy rainfall (more than 204.2mm) expected in Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim on August 25; isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall expected in Arunachal Pradesh, and Bihar on August 25; and in Assam, Meghalaya from August 25 to August 27,” an IMD bulletin read.

Considering the forecast of extremely heavy rainfall in West Bengal, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has urged fishermen not to venture into the Southwest Arabian Sea and central Bay of Bengal for next five days.?

“Squally wind speed of 45-55 kmph gusting to 65 kmph very likely over Westcentral and adjoining Southwest Arabian Sea on Friday; Squally wind speed of 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph over north adjoining central Bay of Bengal”, IMD posted on X, formerly Twitter.

It also added, “Thunderstorm with lightning very likely at isolated places over Jammu-Kashmir-Ladakh-GilgitBaltistan-Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Gangetic West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam & Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura, Telangana.”

IMD's 'red' alert indicates rainfall over 20 cm while an 'orange' alert indicates 'very heavy rainfall' - between six and 20 cm. The 'yellow' alert indicates between six and 11 cm of rainfall.