The India Meteorological Department issued a red alert for Mumbai even as heavy rain continued to batter the city on Wednesday morning, the Hindustan Times reported. “Intense rain is likely in Mumbai today,” the IMD said. “The city received heavy rainfall at isolated places in the last 12 hours. More impact was on western suburbs with rainfall more than 150 mm.”
The red alert was issued for Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Pune, Ahmednagar and Nashik districts of Maharashtra. For Thane, Palghar and Nashik, the red alert has been sounded for both Wednesday and Thursday.
Local train services were once again affected in Mumbai on Wednesday, PTI reported. Bus services in some parts also came to a halt.
Western Railway Chief Spokesperson Sumit Thakur said there was “minor disruption” at Palghar from 5.40 am to 7.10 am due to 266 mm rain in two hours, and hence, a few trains had to be “regulated”. But he said train services between Dahanu Road and Churchgate were running properly.
On the Central Line, there was water logging on the tracks in Sion and Kurla. But Central Railway Chief Spokesperson Shivaji Sutar said suburban services, from Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus to Kasara, Khopoli and Panvel were operational.
Bus services of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport had to be diverted on 30 routes, including two in Thane, by 9 am.
Water logging continued at many places in the city on Wednesday. Chembur, Parel, Hindmata and Wadala areas were particularly affected.
On Tuesday, Mumbai had recorded 268.6 mm of rain, the highest for a single day in August in 10 years. In 12 hours from 8.30 am on Tuesday to 8.30 pm, the Santacruz observatory recorded 251 mm of precipitation. One person was electrocuted in Thane and four people fell into a drain in Santacruz.
The total rainfall this season has been over 2,000 mm (200 cm), and the city has already received over 53% of its average August precipitation.
The weather station at Dahanu in Palghar recorded 364 mm rainfall in the 12-hour period from 5.30 pm on Tuesday to 5.30 am on Wednesday, according to IMD Mumbai centre Deputy Director General KS Hosalikar. The weather station at Bhayander in Thane recorded 169 mm rainfall while the one at Mira Road reported 159 mm, according to IMD.
The Bandra and Kurla suburbs of Mumbai received between 30 mm to 70 mm of rainfall in the 12 hours till 5.30 am. Thane city, Dombivli and Kalyan areas, which are part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, received 120 mm of showers.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said that the western suburbs of Mumbai received 82.43 mm rain from Tuesday night, followed by eastern suburbs with 69.11 mm and the island city, which saw 45.38 mm precipitation.
“Radar showing intense clouds around Mumbai now,” Hosalikar tweeted in the morning. One more intense rain day likely today. Please take care.” He said that the formation of a low-pressure area in North Bay, as predicted by the weather department, has strengthened lower level southerly winds over the Arabian Sea. This has brought heavy to very heavy rainfall to parts of Mumbai, he said.
Hosalikar added that heavy rain was also likely in Thane and Palghar and North Konkan region. Parts of South Central Maharashtra and Marathwada will also see heavy precipitation.
Pune
Pune district received 59 mm rainfall in the 24 hours from Tuesday to Wednesday morning. Pune Mayor Murlidhar Mohol said if the rainfall is good as per IMD projections, there will be no need for water cuts in the city till Ganesh Chaturthi, which falls on August 22 this year.
The catchment areas of four dams – Varasgaon, Khadakwasla, Panshet and Temghar – which provide water to the city received good rainfall too. In western Maharashtra, 1,139 cubic feet per second water was discharged from Koyna Dam.
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