Orange alert for very heavy rainfall in parts

As heavy rains on Tuesday continued to inundate parts of Mumbai and neighbouring areas, the Indian meteorological department (IMD) issued an orange alert for Mumbai, Thane and Palghar for Wednesday, and a red alert for Raigad and Ratnagiri.

Predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall in some regions on Wednesday and Thursday, its forecast for the next 48 hours said, “Intermittent moderate rain or showers very likely in the city and suburbs. Possibility of very heavy rainfall at isolated places."

KS Hosalikar, deputy Director general (Western region) of IMD said," As per the IMD model guidance, there is a possibility of heavy to very heavy rain in parts of Konkan, including Mumbai and adjoining areas,

beginning July 14 and 15. Therefore we are expecting increased intensity in the rainfall which started on Tuesday and will continue on Wednesday."

While South Mumbai may not have witnessed intense spells of rain, suburban areas reported heavy rainfall on Tuesday.

The Colaba weather observatory recorded 20.2 mm rainfall until 5.30 pm on Tuesday, while the Santacruz observatory recorded 77.1 mm rainfall. So far, the total rainfall reported since the beginning of the monsoon by the Colaba and Santacruz weather observatories has been recorded at 1,063 mm and 1,103 mm respectively, which is above normal in both cases. On Tuesday heavy waterlogging was reported at chronic spots like Hindmata in Dadar, Dadar TT, In King Circle near Gandhi Market, Dockyard road, Sion, Sanskar Panchayat Chowk in Wadala, Andheri Subway, Baingan wadi, Ashish Junction Chembur, Kachrapatti junction in Dharavi, Nehru Nagar in Kurla and many other low lying areas following rainfall throughout the day.

There was traffic congestion on the Western Express Highway (WEH) and Eastern Express Highway (EEH) due to the intense spells of rains. There was slow moving traffic on the Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road, EEH and near Samta Nagar on the WEH. Police sources said snarls were reported near Hindmata Junction, which is one of the low-lying areas, with minor congestion of 7-8 minutes. Vehicular movement was also hit near Samta Nagar, Jogeshwari and Andheri on the WEH, with traffic congestion of around 10 minutes, affecting those returning home after work. There were no major diversions necessary to control the traffic, said a traffic police officer. The civic body reported a total of eight tree or branch fall incidents on Tuesday. Besides this, two cases of wall collapse and four cases of short circuit were reported across the city.

(With inputs by Priyanka Navalkar)