As monsoon rain pummelled the northeast, Cherrapunji in Meghalaya recorded a massive 811.6 mm of rainfall in 24 hours ending 8:30 am on Wednesday, the highest in June since 1995, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
One of the wettest places in the world, Cherrapunji has recorded more than 750 mm of precipitation on a June day on 10 occasions since the IMD started keeping records, the IMD data showed.
On June 16, 1995, the town nestled in the East Khasi Hills gauged 1563.3 mm of rainfall. A day before, on June 15, 1995, it received 930 mm of precipitation.
The Met office said the southwest monsoon further advanced into more parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and coastal Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday.
It said the ongoing spell of intense rainfall is likely to continue in the northeast and sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim during the next five days.
"Under the influence of strong southwesterly winds from the Bay of Bengal in lower tropospheric levels and a trough in westerlies in middle tropospheric levels, isolated extremely heavy rainfall is likely over Arunachal Pradesh on June 15; over Assam and Meghalaya on June 15-16 and sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim till June 17," it said.
(With PTI inputs)
