The isolated rains in ongoing Monsoon created panic as the ground water level has not increased so far. In Raipur, the hour-long steady drizzles the seasons longest spell in the capital on Wednesday gave some respite. During the hour-long steady showers, Raipur received 19.3 mm rainfall. Meanwhile, light to medium rainfall was recorded at many places while one or two places received heavy to very heavy rainfall in the State on Wednesday. Bhopalpatnam recorded highest of 170 mm rainfall followed by Kutru 160mm, Dornapal 120mm, Usur 80mm, Bijapur, Bhairamgarh, Dhanora and Gangalur 70 mm each, Bhanpuri and Karpawand 60mm, gadiras 50mm, bastar and Nangur 40mm, Bakawand, Mardapal, Baderajpur, Kondagaon and Pali received 30mm each while below 30mm rainfall covered many places across the State. Torrential rainfall on Wednesday morning resulted in a severe traffic jam on National Highway 63 in the Bijapur district, leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded.

 

Travellers endured significant delays, standing in long queues, hoping for a return to normalcy. Confirming the situation, Jangla Station House Officer Deepak Thakur stated that the downpour had led to extensive water logging in the Jangla nullah, disrupting traffic movement between Bijapur and Jagdalpur. The overflowing nullah left numerous vehicles marooned, with drivers and passengers waiting for 2-3 hours until conditions improved. Bijapur district has registered the highest average rainfall in Chhattisgarh, recording 520.2 mm from June 1, this year, until now, according to data from the State Government’s Revenue and Disaster Management Department’s state-level control room. Across the State, the average rainfall stands at 278.7 mm, with Surguja district recording the lowest at 136.7 mm.

 

Detailed rainfall figures for various districts include Surajpur 197.5 mm, Balrampur 336.5 mm, Jashpur 239.8 mm, Koriya 247.8 mm, Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur 204.8 mm, Raipur 250.4 mm, Balodabazar 290.4 mm, Gariaband 326.4 mm, Mahasamund 217.8 mm, Dhamtari 279.1 mm, Bilaspur 326.2 mm, Mungeli 314.7 mm, Raigarh 327.6 mm, Sarangarh-Bilaigarh 190.4 mm, Janjgir-Champa 291.3 mm, Sakti 253.9 mm, Korba 386.7 mm, Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi 340.7 mm, Durg 178.9 mm, Kabirdham 252.4 mm, Rajnandgaon 226.2 mm, Mohla-Manpur- Chowki 241.8 mm, Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai 185.6 mm, Balod 265.6 mm, Bemetara 163.6 mm, Bastar 380.9 mm, Kondagaon 282.7 mm, Kanker 270.7 mm, Narayanpur 311.3 mm, Dantewada 314.5 mm and Sukma 444.7 mm.

 

The MeT Centre has issued ‘Yellow Alert’ warning of heavy rainfall and thunderstorm on July 18 followed by heavy to very heavy rainfall along with thunderstorm at isolated places in the State on July 19 and 20. However, there will be no change in maximum temperature during the next five days over the State. In the state-wide forecast, the weathermen stated possibility of moderate to medium rainfall at one or two places in the State on July 18. The sky will be normally cloudy with chances of thunderstorm and rainfall in Raipur on Thursday.