Monsoon withdraws from northeast region, flood fear recedes

GUWAHATI: The fear of floods in the region because of the rains receded with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday announcing the total withdrawal of the monsoon from the northeastern states.

The IMD's Regional Meteorological Centre, based in Guwahati, stated on Tuesday that the southwest monsoon has withdrawn from the remaining parts of the northeastern region, including Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. The All India Weather Inference issued by IMD on Tuesday evening said meteorological conditions are now favourable for further withdrawal of the southwest monsoon from the remaining parts of the country in the next 24 hours.

"Today the monsoon withdrew totally from the northeast, bringing to an end to the monsoon season in the region," deputy director general of meteorology at RMC, Guwahati, Sanjay O'Neill Shaw, told TOI. Though the Met department was expecting total withdrawal of the monsoon from the northeastern states by mid-October, the withdrawal of the southwest monsoon from the region was delayed by almost a week this year.

In the last 24 hours, light to moderate rain occurred at many places over Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, while light rain occurred at isolated places over Meghalaya and Nagaland. On the other hand, the weather was dry over Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura during the period. After the withdrawal of the monsoon, the IMD forecast said that from Thursday onwards the weather would be dry in all the northeastern states at least till the weekend.

IMD officials stated that even though showers may lash parts of the northeastern region in the coming weeks, the threat of heavy rain leading to flooding is over with the withdrawal of the monsoon. Incessant rain led to floods in several northeastern states, causing loss of life and property since the commencement of the monsoon season on June 1.