The India Meteorological Department has stepped up warnings across large parts of northern and eastern India as the southwest monsoon gathers strength. Delhi was placed under an orange alert on 12 July, upgraded to a red alert a day later, and was hit by another spell of rain on 16 July that provided relief from heat but maintained heightened vigilance in the capital. Jharkhand moved to a red alert on 15 July, leading authorities to shut schools, while six districts—Hazaribagh, Giridih, Koderma, Palamu and two others—were shifted to an orange alert and Ranchi and seven neighbouring districts were put on yellow watch for the next 24 hours. In Uttarakhand, the IMD issued an orange alert for Dehradun on 16 July. State Disaster Response Force teams pulled three people to safety from an overflowing stream near the city, and separate footage from Vikasnagar showed a car being swept away in a torrent before the driver escaped unharmed. Persistent downpours also triggered landslides in the hill states. Boulders crashed onto a vehicle in Shimla and debris rolled down slopes in Sirmour, both in Himachal Pradesh, while a slide in Udhampur, Jammu & Kashmir, blocked a key road and caused long traffic jams. No casualties were reported in the incidents. The IMD expects heavy to very heavy rainfall over parts of Rajasthan, Bihar, Odisha and the western Himalayan region during the next two to three days and has urged local administrations to prepare for possible flooding and additional landslides.