Monsoon weakens, but Central India likely to see heavy rain on Wednesday

The weakening depression over eastern India is set to keep rain intense across the north and centre on Wednesday. With East Uttar Pradesh under a red alert, flood-prone areas remain under close watch.A man cycles through a waterlogged road amid heavy rain, in the Nizamuddin area, New Delhi. (Photo: IMD)Even as the depression that triggered widespread flooding across eastern India begins to weaken, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned that heavy to extremely heavy rainfall will continue across parts of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and adjoining regions on Wednesday, August 19.The weather system, which originated over the northwest Bay of Bengal and intensified into a depression, was located over Jharkhand and adjoining northern Gangetic West Bengal on Tuesday morning.According to the IMD, it is expected to move west-northwestward across Jharkhand and Bihar before weakening into a well-marked low-pressure area over the next 24 hours.Despite the weakening trend, the system will continue to pump large amounts of moisture into northern and central India. The IMD has issued a red alert for East Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, warning of isolated extremely heavy rainfall exceeding 21 cm, particularly over southeastern districts of the state. An orange alert for very heavy rainfall has also been issued for Uttarakhand, West Uttar Pradesh and East Madhya Pradesh. Rainfall activity is expected to remain intense as the remnants of the depression interact with the monsoon trough and multiple upper-air cyclonic circulations spread across northern India.The western end of the monsoon trough currently lies north of its normal position, while its eastern end remains close to normal. Additional cyclonic circulations over North Haryana, East Uttar Pradesh and Punjab are likely to further enhance rainfall activity over the Indo-Gangetic plains.The warning comes after an already active spell of monsoon weather. During the past 24 hours, extremely heavy rainfall, more than 21 cm, was recorded in parts of Uttarakhand, Gangetic West Bengal and Odisha. Very heavy rainfall between 12 and 20 cm was reported from Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya.Elsewhere, heavy rainfall warnings remain in place for Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, the northeastern states, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Haryana.Meteorologists expect the focus of rainfall to gradually shift westward over the coming days, bringing active monsoon conditions to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and parts of the western Himalayan region through the rest of the week, while flood-prone areas remain under close watch.- EndsPublished By: Sibu Kumar TripathiPublished On: Aug 18, 2026 19:30 IST