Delhi to remain partly cloudy, heavy rain forecast for Odisha, Chhattisgarh

New Delhi, Aug 8 (IANS) The national capital is expected to remain partly cloudy, with light drizzle in isolated places, even as the Met Department has forecast very heavy rainf for Odisha and Chhattisgarh on Thursday.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), heavy rain can be expected in Delhi only by August 13. Delhi and the National Capital Region had experienced heavy rains on August 6 that resulted in disruption of traffic and normal lives.

"No heavy or moderate rainfall is expected over Delhi as of now. The skies will remain partly cloudy with very light rains or drizzle at some places," said IMD's regional weather forecasting chief Kuldeep Srivastava.

According to private weather forecasting agency Skymet, rainfall over Delhi can be expected only after the monsoon trough finishes passing through the south of the national capital.

The IMD issued a bulletin on Thursday forecasting extremely heavy rainfall over Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Konkan AND Goa, Kerala and Karnataka over the next two days apart from Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Gujarat is also expected to get heavy rainfall by Friday as per Skymet.

Heavy rain was also been predicted over Gangetic West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha.

Meanwhile, the flood situation continued to be grim in Maharashtra and Karnataka with no abatement in rainfall and release of water from major reservoirs over the last few days.

The Indian Army, which is assisting the respective state governments in carrying out relief and rescue operations, has so far rescued 500 persons apart from providing medical aid and distributing food packets to those affected.

Rescue operations were undertaken in Maharashtra in the villages of Birwadi and Asankoli in Raigad district and Mouje Digraj, Haripur and Nandre villages of Sangli and Kohlapur districts.

More than 1,200 people are reported to be stranded in these villages.