Days of wet spell have created a sea of problems in Uttar Pradesh. As per the state’s Office of Relief Commissioner, as many as 56 people lost their lives and 46 were injured in incidents related to the deluge. Heavy rains accompanied by strong surface winds reaching 30-40 km/h threw life out of gear, knocked down trees, uprooted electric poles, and inundated roads, lanes, and villages across Kanpur, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Bareilly, and numerous other districts.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) attributes this widespread flood-like situation to the rare atmospheric convergence of two distinct weather systems operating simultaneously over Northern India. As per officials, the severe weather activity is the result of a ‘Deep Depression’ merging its moisture fields with an incoming ‘Western Disturbance’, right at the time when the southwest monsoon is withdrawing from North-West India. A view of a submerged village as heavy rainfall inundates the residential areas along the Pandu River, in Kanpur. No specific warning has been issued for Eastern UP. Overall, the intensity of rainfall has declined in UP.
Going by official data, Uttar Pradesh, against a normal daily average of just 1.8 mm, recorded 45.1 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours by Sunday morning, with 56 out of the state’s 75 districts registering excessive rainfall. Photo Credit: ANI Speaking to NDTV about the situation in Uttar Pradesh, IMD Senior Scientist Dr Akhil Srivastava said, “The IMD has issued a warning for thunderstorms and lightning in Western UP today (Monday, September 28).
Giving an insight into the cause of the deluge, Dr Srivastava added, “Heavy rainfall in UP was recorded under the influence of a well-marked low-pressure area over northern parts of central Uttar Pradesh, which caused isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall in West Uttar Pradesh and isolated heavy rainfall over East Uttar Pradesh.”
The combined impact produced exceptional rainfall totals across both Eastern and Western Uttar Pradesh. Major rivers like the Ghagra and Rapti have crossed critical warning mark thresholds at several monitoring stations, even threatening low-lying rural and agricultural belts.
