Heavy rain alert returns as monsoon blankets entire India

Residents of Delhi-NCR woke up to pleasant weather on Friday, with cloudy skies, cool winds and relatively lower humidity, offering relief after two days of intense rainfall.

However, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast another spell of heavy rain across parts of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. At the same time, rainfall activity is expected to ease in Mumbai and several regions of Maharashtra.

The IMD has issued an orange alert for Delhi, warning of heavy rainfall during the day. According to the weather department, the intensity of rainfall over the national capital is likely to decrease from July 11 onwards.

In Maharashtra, rainfall activity is expected to weaken on Friday, with light showers likely across most parts of the state. However, the IMD has issued an orange alert for Pune and Satara, and a yellow alert remains in effect for Raigad, Kolhapur, Buldhana, Akola, Amravati, Nagpur, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli, advising residents to remain cautious.

The weather department has also issued red and orange alerts for several districts in Uttar Pradesh. A red alert, indicating the possibility of extremely heavy rainfall, has been sounded for Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Moradabad, Bareilly, Pilibhit, Badaun, Sambhal and Jyotiba Phule Nagar. Meanwhile, orange alerts have been issued for Sitapur, Hardoi, Bulandshahr, Saharanpur, Kushinagar, Lakhimpur Kheri, Shahjahanpur and Hapur.

Over the past two days, several parts of Delhi-NCR, particularly Noida and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, witnessed continuous heavy rainfall, leading to severe waterlogging and major traffic disruptions. Gurugram was among the worst-affected areas, with long traffic jams prompting several private companies to advise employees to work from home.

Meanwhile, the IMD announced that the Southwest Monsoon has advanced into the remaining parts of the north Arabian Sea, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. With this, the monsoon covered the entire country on July 9, just one day later than its normal arrival date of July 8, marking the completion of its seasonal advance across India.