Alert has been issued in six Northeast States, as the region is likely to witness heavy rains starting Monday.
As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), strong lower-level southwesterly winds blowing in from the Bay of Bengal are set to affect the weather all over the Northeast.
Under the influence of these meteorological conditions, fairly widespread to widespread rainfall, along with thunderstorms, thundersquall, lightning and gusty winds blowing between the speeds of 30-50 kmph are all very likely at isolated places of Northeast India from March 29 to April 2.
The rainfall activity will peak around midweek, between March 30-31, with heavy showers particularly possible on March 29 and 31, and heavy to very heavy rains on March 30 at isolated locations in South Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
“The intense downpour could very well lead to landslides and inundation of low-lying areas in these four states on Wednesday and Thursday,” IMD forecasted.
Accordingly, the IMD has issued an orange alert over Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the advisory urging residents to ‘be prepared’ for rough conditions.
This intense rain spell will see the Northeast end the month of March on a strong note as far as precipitation is concerned, especially considering a majority of its states have experienced below-average rainfall since the beginning of March, which also coincides with the start of the pre-monsoon season over India.
Between March 1 and 26, Arunachal Pradesh (83.5 mm), Assam (25.2 mm), Nagaland (27.4 mm) and Tripura (28.3 mm) have all recorded ‘deficit’ rain figures as compared to their respective long-term average figures for this period, whereas Meghalaya (17.4 mm), Manipur (10 mm) and Mizoram (9.1 mm) have registered ‘large deficit’ precipitation. Sikkim, on the other hand, is the only Northeastern state to record ‘excess’ showers worth 167.9 mm.
