Expect rain, lake levels rise to 55%
MUMBAI : There will be heavy rainfall at isolated places in Mumbai, Thane and Palghar on Thursday and Friday, according to the India Meteorological department (IMD). A brown alert, warning of heavy to very heavy rainfall, has been issued by the IMD for Raigad, Nashik and Pune.
The IMD bulletin on Wednesday said: "Heavy Rainfall/Thunderstorm warning for North Konkan issued on 12-08-2020. The prediction is extended to August 13 and 14 as well." On Thursday, Raigad and Palghar can expect "heavy to very heavy rainfall" at isolated places while "heavy rainfall is likely at isolated places in the districts of Mumbai and Thane". For the next 48 hours, the city of Mumbai will see a "generally cloudy sky with moderate to heavy in city and suburban, with gusty wind reaching 45-55 KMPH occasionally," according to the bulletin.
There is a silver lining to the cloudy outlook, however. Following a spell of moderate rainfall on Tuesday and
Wednesday, lake levels rose and are now holding 55.52% of the city's total annual requirement. The civic body is expecting this number to go up to about 70% by the end of this month. "The total water storage in all seven lakes that supply water to the city is a little over six months' stock, so far. Fearing shortage of water, last month we had to announce 20 per cent water cut across the city. If we manage to get good rainfall till September and if the water stock crosses 90 per cent, we might be able to call off the water cut," said a senior BMC official.
“More rain intensity has been reported towards the north-western suburbs of Mumbai over the past 24 hours. This trend is likely to continue. Radar and satellite images have indicated dense cloud cover over the north Konkan coast, which may lead to heavy showers in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), surrounding areas and the Western Ghats over the next 48 hours,” said KS Hosalikar, deputy director general , western region, IMD.
On Wednesday, light to moderate showers or negligible rain was reported across Mumbai and its suburbs, barring certain intense spells at isolated places.
Both, the Santacruz and Colaba weather observatories reported having received intermittent moderate rainfall on Tuesday and Wednesday, at 30.7mm and 16.7mm rainfall respectively.
Maximum rainfall was recorded in the north-western suburbs of Mumbai between 8.30am and 12.30pm. Dahisar recorded 19.5mm rain, followed by Thane (18.7mm), Borivli (15.6mm), Goregaon (15.5mm), Malad (15.4mm), Bhayandar (13mm), Powai (10.2mm) and Bandra (10.6mm). IMD authorities have predicted that a cloud cover with moderate rainfall would persist, coupled with a possibility of a downpour over isolated areas. Across Maharashtra, the maximum rainfall was reported from Matheran (72.2 mm), followed by Mahabaleshwar (58.6 mm), Dahanu (43 mm), Thane (37 mm), and Mumbai (30 mm).
Mumbai suburbs have received 63% of excess rainfall between June 1 and August 12, while the rainfall recorded in south Mumbai exceeds 70 per cent. Maharashtra has recorded overall 8 per cent of excess rainfall, at 713.1mm during this period, as compared to 657.3 mm of the previous year. As on August 12, the water stock in all seven lakes stood at 8,03,588 million litres as compared to the city's annual requirement of 14,47,363 ML. Last year, at this time (August 12) the lakes had 91.71 per cent of the total requirement while in 2018, they had 87.63 per cent stock. The amount of rain that falls in the catchment areas in the remaining days of August and September will determine the city's water supply situation until the next monsoon.