The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned of widespread heavy to extremely heavy rainfall across several parts of the country as a deep depression over the northwest Bay of Bengal moves towards the West Bengal–North Odisha coast.According to the IMD, the deep depression remained centred over the northwest Bay of Bengal on Monday evening, close to the West Bengal coast. It is expected to move west-northwestwards and cross the coast between east of Digha and west of Haldia by the early hours of July 28.The weather system is expected to bring heavy to very heavy rainfall over large parts of eastern, central, western and northern India during the coming week. Odisha and Chhattisgarh are likely to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall with isolated spells of extremely heavy rainfall on July 27 and 28. Heavy rainfall has also been forecast over Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, East Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Coastal Karnataka, Konkan and Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Gujarat, and several northeastern states.The IMD has also forecast thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and gusty winds across many regions. Thundersqualls with wind speeds of 50–60 kmph, gusting up to 70 kmph, are likely over Odisha and Coastal Andhra Pradesh, while several states are expected to witness thunderstorms with gusts of 40–50 kmph.Marine conditions are expected to remain rough. Squally winds of up to 70 kmph have been forecast over the northwest Bay of Bengal along the Odisha and West Bengal coasts, prompting caution for marine activities.The bulletin also highlights the risk of flash flooding. Moderate flash flood risk has been forecast for parts of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand over the next 24 hours, while low to moderate flash flood risk exists for districts in Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand.The IMD warned that intense rainfall could lead to waterlogging, urban flooding, disruption of road traffic, reduced visibility, landslides in vulnerable areas, and damage to standing crops and vulnerable structures. Residents and travellers have been advised to avoid waterlogged areas, follow traffic advisories and remain alert to official weather updates.
