Guwahati: After a brief period of inactivity, wet weather appears set to mark its return over northeast India, as widespread showers have been forecast over the region starting Friday, September 4.
According to a report published in The Weather Channel’s met team, the eastern end of the monsoon trough is likely to become active from Friday onwards.
Once it does, it will produce fairly widespread to widespread rains and thunderstorms with isolated heavy rains over the northeast Indian states starting Friday. Moreover, Sikkim is particularly expected to witness heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places on Sunday.
In view of this forecast, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow watch over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura from Friday to Sunday. The former four states will remain under the same watch on Monday, with the advisory urging residents to ‘be aware’ of the weather situation in their locality.
It remains to be seen just how much of an impact this fresh rain spell has on the flood situation in the region, particularly in the state of Assam. The state remained largely inundated from May to July, with the floods affecting up to 3 lakh individuals and killing more than 60. Further, more than 3000 villages were affected, 1.28 lakh hectares of agricultural land got submerged, and around 44 thousand people were forced to live in relief camps.
At present, the latest report from the Central Water Commission (CWC) indicates that one station in Assam remains in a severe flood situation, while four stations are currently flowing in an above normal flood situation. Residents have accordingly been instructed to maintain maximum vigil around the rivers in spate.
On Wednesday, September 2, rainfall was observed at isolated places across Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura.