The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for suburban Mumbai, Raigad, Satara and Ratnagiri in Maharashtra on Saturday with a prediction of extremely heavy rainfall over the next 24 hours.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has in a tweet asked people to stay away from the seashore.
“@Indiametdept has forecasted extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in Mumbai for the next 48 hours. Also, there is a high tide of 4.57 metres at 11:38 AM tomorrow. Citizens are requested to stay away from the sea shore,” it posted.
The Konkan region, including Mumbai, received deficient rainfall in June, the weather bureau has forecast a normal monsoon in July for the region.
Palghar, Thane, Mumbai city its suburbs, and Raigad recorded deficient rainfall between June 1 and July 1, whereas Ratangiri recorded normal rainfall.
On Friday, Mumbai and it suburbs received the maximum rains this monsoon to date. The Colaba weather observatory, which covers south Mumbai, recorded 157 millimetres (mm) of rainfall between 8:30am and 11:30am on Friday after torrential downpour inundated several low-lying areas in the city.
IMD classifies 20-30 mm rain per hour as an intense spell; 30-50mm per hour as a very intense spell; 50-100mm per hour as an extremely intense spell; and over 100 mm per hour as a cloud burst. Friday’s showers in south Mumbai fell in the “very intense spell” category.
IMD had earlier issued an orange alert for heavy to very heavy rain for Friday and Saturday but said the intensity is likely to lessen from Sunday.
KS Hosalikar, IMD’s deputy director for the western region, had predicted intense rainfall in Mumbai and its adjoining areas on Friday and Saturday.
A yellow alert, which will be updated for heavy rain at isolated places, has been issued for Sunday for Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg. An orange alert for heavy to very heavy rain has been issued for Palghar, for Sunday.
A red alert directs authorities to take necessary action for extremely heavy rain at isolated places in a region.
