City, Konkan coast under orange alert

Weather bureau predicts heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated locations; Raigad, Ratnagiri under red alert

MUMBAI: The entire Konkan coast and Mumbai are expected to see heavy to extremely heavy rains at isolated locations on Sunday and Monday. Raigad and Ratnagiri districts have been placed under a red category weather alert for Sunday and Monday, indicating a higher chance of severe weather, while Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Sindhudurg districts have been placed under orange category alert.

Earlier on Saturday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had issued a red alert for Mumbai and the entire Konkan region, but this was later downgraded to an orange category alert for all districts except Ratnagiri and Raigad, as the “heavy rainfall belt has moved southwards”, IMD officials clarified.

However, with the formation of a low-pressure area over North Bay of Bengal and cyclonic circulations in the Arabian Sea facilitating strong westerly winds, an active rainfall spell is expected over the Konkan coast for at least four to five days, IMD officials said.

Mumbai has recorded a total of 706.1mm of rain as of 5.30pm on Saturday, a sharp increase from the monthly average rainfall of 505mm, between June 1 and June 12. This includes pre-monsoon showers that took place between June 1 and June 8. In the 24 hours ending 8.30am on Saturday, Mumbai had received 107mm of rainfall, as per the automatic weather station at Santacruz. In the nine hours ending 5.30pm, it recorded 64.8mm rain.

Mumbai’s only operational doppler radar at Colaba, meanwhile, was revived after over three weeks on Saturday. The radar had been defunct since May 16, a day before Cyclone

Tauktae passed by the city on its way to Gujarat. Dr MN Rajeevan, secretary, ministry of earth sciences, had told HT on Friday that it was likely to remain defunct for at least two months.

Despite repeated requests, IMD officials did not clarify the reason for the radar’s speedy recovery.