Weather today: Schools shut after rains wreak havoc in Tripura; 5 states on orange alert for heavy rains

Weather today: Following heavy rainfall and flood like situation in Tripura that triggered landslides in the state, the authorities announced shut down of all schools. Educational institutions, including government, aided, private, managed schools, schools under TTAADC, Madrasas and more will remain closed on August 22.

"Due to the present weather conditions like heavy rainfall/flood/ landslide etc in the State, it has been decided that all schools like Govt., Govt. Aided schools, Privately managed schools, schools under TTAADC, Madrasas etc throughout the state shall remain closed on August 21 and 22," ANI quoted Additional Secretary Education (School) Department Govt. of Tripura as saying.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued orange alert for heavy rainfall in Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Assam.

IMD's forecast and warnings for northwest India

In a press release dated August 21, the IMD said, “Fairly widespread to widespread light/moderate rainfall very likely over Uttarakhand; scattered to fairly widespread rainfall over Jammu-Kashmir-Ladakh-Gilgit-Baltistan-Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, East Rajasthan; isolated to scattered rainfall over Punjab, Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi, West Rajasthan during the week.”

IMD's forecast and warnings for west and central India

The Meteorological Department predicted “isolated heavy rainfall” in Madhya Pradesh, Goa and Gujarat until August 28; in Chhattisgarh until August 25; and in Maharashtra between August 24 and 27.

IMD's forecast and warnings for east and northeast India

IMD forecasted “isolated heavy rainfall” in West Bengal, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh until August 23; in Jharkhand and Odisha until August 25; in Bihar until August 24; in Andaman and Nicobar Islands on August 24; in Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura until August 26.

IMD's forecast and warnings south peninsular India

The weather bulletin predicted “heavy rainfall” in Andhra Pradesh on August 22, in Telangana on August 24, in Kerala and Karnataka on August 25. Meanwhile, Coastal Karnataka may witness heavy bouts of wet spells until August 28, according to IMD.