Weather tracker: 10 dead and 34,000 displaced in north-east India floods

Incessant rain across Tripura, a state in north-east India, has created what has been described as the state’s worst flood situation in the last three decades. Persistent heavy rain from Monday to Wednesday resulted in several rivers exceeding danger and extreme danger marks, leading to widespread flooding that has caused the deaths of 10 people as well as displacing more than 34,000.
The southern Tripura districts had the worst of the floods and the 34,000 displaced people were being sheltered in the north of the region. There were 24-hour rainfall totals on Wednesday of 375.8mm recorded in Bagafa and 324.4mm in Belonia. The flooding and heavy rain led schools to shut down on Wednesday and Thursday, while Tripura University suspended all regular classes on Wednesday. The heavy rain was caused by a low pressure system situated over Bangladesh that is slowly moving westwards into north-east India. The situation is therefore only expected to worsen, with a further 100-150mm falling through Thursday and Friday as rivers continue to remain at breaking point.
Bangladesh also had floods this week. Nearly 3 million people were stranded due to impassable roads and a two people died. Bangladeshi residents had to evacuate with their belongings by boat and other makeshift transportation as flood water prevented other modes of transport. Road connections in several regions were severed, which isolated millions and hampered relief efforts. These floods were as a result of the same low pressure system which caused major flooding in Tripura and the situation is expected to worsen in Bangladesh too as the rains are forecast to continue.
Meanwhile in the eastern Pacific, nearly 1,000 miles off the coast of the California peninsula, is Hurricane Gilma, which has rapidly strengthened over the past couple of days, becoming a major category 3 hurricane early on Thursday morning. The storm, at the time of writing, possesses sustained wind speeds of 115mph that have enabled it to become the first major hurricane in the eastern Pacific this hurricane season. The storm is expected to continue to track west-northwest over the next several days before gradually weakening this weekend and into next week, long before it comes close to Hawaii. As a result, no coastal watches or warnings have been put into effect, though the National Hurricane Center will continue to monitor the hurricane.