Met notifies depression alert, no respite seen for flood-hit areas in Central India

The rain-driving low-pressure area over Central India has intensified into being ‘well-marked’ and is well on its way to become a monsoon depression, loaded with ramifications for the flood-hit areas in the region.

The ‘well-marked low’ was located over South-West Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday evening, and could be heading towards South Gujarat and Mumbai-Konkan over the next couple of days.

The intensification of the ‘low’ had beat all forecasts, not to speak about the prospects of its acquiring the strength of full-scale depression, including those by international models.

The only relief, if it can be called one, is the likely advancement of formation of a follow-up weather system in the Bay of Bengal, earlier forecast to take place by Friday.

The hyperactive monsoon being sustained by the depression-in-making would have the effect of slowing down the successor system by at least five days, as per early indications.

East India and Central India would have to brace for another round of wet spell from September 5, which would also mean that the withdrawal process of the monsoon could get delayed in the process.

Meanwhile, the flood-hit Mumbai and neighbourhood, and prospectively Gujarat, Saurashtra ad Kutch, would bear the brunt of the ongoing roaring phase of the monsoon.

The emerging scenario could be even worse than what is obtaining far west to Texas in South-West of the US, still reeling under floods set off by erstwhile category-4 hurricane ‘Harvey.’

This is because a low-pressure area or a depression, though lesser in strength and intensity, has a longer shelf life and sustain heavy to very rainfall with assured back-up in moisture feed from the neighbouring seas - Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal in the local context.

In a special bulletin, India Met Department has warned of fairly widespread to widespread rainfall over Gujarat, Konkan, North Madhya Maharashtra, South-West Madhya Pradesh and South-East Rajasthan during the next two to three days.

The rains may relent over South-West Madhya Pradesh, South-East Rajasthan and North Madhya Maharashtra. But Konkan-Mumbai, Gujarat and Saurashtra would continue to be vulnerable. Satellite maps on Tuesday evening showed the entire landscape extending from Konkan-Mumbai and West Madhya Pradesh into entire Gujarat and South-West Rajasthan already invaded by humongous mass of clouds.

It hung precariously over Mumbai, Nashik, Dhule, Surat, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad, Junagadh, Jamnagar, Gandhidham, Bhuj, Nalia, Mahesana, Palanpur, Dungarpur, Udaipur, Jalore, Barmer and Jodhpur.

This covered the Met subdivisions of Konkan, West Madhya Pradesh, East Gujarat, Saurashtra & Kutch, East Rajasthan and West Rajasthan.