Meghalaya's Mawsynram, India's wettest place, beats Cherrapunji

Shillong, June 17: As monsoon rain lashes northeast region wreaking havoc and killing people, Mawsynram and Sohra in Meghalaya's East Khasi Hills district are in a competition to be the wettest place in the country recording record rainfall in the last 24 hours, IMD officials said Friday.

Located on opposite cliffs, the gorges of which face the plains of Bangladesh, Sohra (erstwhile Cherrapunji) recorded a massive 972 mm of rainfall in 24 hours ending 8:30 am today while Mawsynram, on the other hand, received 1003.6 mm of rainfall during the same period, the highest rainfall for a day, the IMD officials said.

Sohra's record for June 17 is the third highest rainfall recorded since June 16, 1995 (1563.3 mm) .

The highest rainfall was last recorded on June 7, 1966 with 945.4 mm for Mawsynram and during that year, the town gauged 4 days of record rainfall - all above 700 mm in 24 hours.

According to IMD officials, Sohra town also received a total of 2457.2 mm of rainfall in the last three days, higher than what Mumbai and Delhi would have received in 3 years.