The event, for which people had started gathering since morning, began around 11.30 am and went on till around 1 pm. That day, the nearest weather station to the spot of the programme recorded a maximum temperature of 38 degrees Celsius.
Meanwhile, Chief Medical Superintendent (CMS) of the district hospital, Dr Divakar Singh, was removed and sent to Azamgarh, allegedly after he made a careless remark about the cause of deaths.
The India Meteorological Department's forecast of early monsoon has come as a respite for the Central government, which has been drawing flak from all corners for its failure to rein in inflation.
This piece of forecast from the India Meteorological Department and the European Centre for Medium-Range weather Forecasts may bring cheer to Indian farmers
The landfall process of the eye of the extremely severe cyclonic storm Tauktae, which hit the Gujarat coast in Saurashtra region between Diu and Una, ended around midnight, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
The India meteorological department has issued an orange alert for Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and other coastal districts in Maharashtra, stating it is very likely that 'heavy to very heavy' rainfall will occur in isolated places in this region.
The quake, measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale, was experienced at 0737 IST, according to the India Meteorological Department.
Monsoon is likely to arrive in Kerala on May 29, the India Meteorological Department predicted on Wednesday. ''This time, the monsoon onset over Kerala is likely to be on May 29, with a model error of four days,'' the IMD said in a statement. With strengthening and deepening of monsoon winds and widespread rainfall activity, southwest monsoon advanced into the southeast Bay of Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and north Andaman Sea on May 12, almost 8 days in advance.
A red alert was declared in 8 districts of Kerala on Thursday by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) as rains continued to lash various parts of the state and disrupted the day-to-day lives of the people as roads got flooded or caved in and many got displaced from their homes to relief camps.
There are no plans of creating artificial rain.
A blinding layer of dense fog over north India, including Delhi, caused major inconvenience to commuters. The visibility levels were 50 metres around 5:30 am.
Rainfall in August is predicted to be below normal (less than 94 per cent of LPA), but the situation is expected to improve comparatively in September, the IMD said.
Meteorologists earlier said Cyclone 'Biparjoy' had been impacting the intensity of the monsoon and that its onset over Kerala would be 'mild'.
But the welcome morning rains led to the usual problem of water-logging on the capital's roads that resulted in traffic chaos at several major intersections during rush hour.
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