IMD issues rain alerts to Madhya Pradesh; Red for 5 districts near Uttar Pradesh, orange for 17

Bhopal, July 31: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday issued red and orange alerts for rainfall ranging from extremely heavy to very heavy respectively for 22 districts in Madhya Pradesh.

The alerts are valid till Sunday morning, a senior IMD official informed. The red alert, for heavy to very heavy as well as extremely heavy rainfall, was for isolated places in Satna, Guna, Sheopur, Chhattarpaur and Tikamgarh, most of these districts being located in north MP along the border with the southern part of Uttar Pradesh, said PK Saha, senior meteorologist with IMD's Bhopal office.

An orange alert, denoting heavy to very heavy rainfall in the 64.5 millimetre to 204.4 millimetre range, is for isolated places in 17 districts, namely Shahdol, Umaria, Anuppur, Rewa, Sidhi, Singrauli, Panna, Damoh, Sagar, Neemuch, Mandsaur, Ashok Nagar, Shivpuri, Gwalior, Datia, Bhind and Morena.

Saha said the red alert for five districts was due to a well-marked low pressure area lying over south-west Bihar and neighbouring regions which is now likely to move west and north-west and then to the southern part of UP in the next two days.

He said Sarai area in Singrauli district received the highest rainfall, of 122.4 millimetres, in east MP in a 24-hour period ending at 8:30am on Saturday, while in west MP, the highest rainfall, of 240 millimetres, was in Karahal in Sheopur.