IMD forecasts heavy spells of rain for 3-4 days in Maharashtra

PUNE: The ghats in Maharashtra recorded triple digit rain in the last 24 hours till Friday morning with Lonavla and Tamhini, among the wettest locations in country. Rainfall is likely to further increase till Saturday making it a wet weekend for most of the state.
Isolated extremely heavy spells are also likely over isolated locations in Madhya Maharashtra till Saturday.
As per Central Water Commission (CWC) on Friday, direct model forecasts for the next three days for river sub-basins in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra showed extremely high quantitative precipitation forecast over a few sub-basins under orange and red colour. The commission said IMD had put some areas of Konkan-Goa on a moderate to high risk on the flash flood risk outlook till Saturday.
IMD officials said the well marked low pressure area over central parts of east Madhya Pradesh and its neighbourhood was very likely to move nearly westwards across west Madhya Pradesh during the next 3-4 days, while the monsoon trough is active and marginally south of its normal position. An east-west shear zone runs roughly along latitude 22°N across central India.
“Under the influence of these systems, widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy falls very likely over Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Telangana, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan during next three to four days, while isolated extremely heavy falls are likely over Madhya Maharashtra during August 21-22,” Anupam Kashyapi, head of weather, IMD Pune, said.
For Maharashtra, moderately strong westerly winds coming from the Arabian Sea are creating a convergence over Konkan-Goa and adjacent Madhya Maharashtra, aiding heavy spells of rain.
The CWC also put Pune and other districts in Maharashtra along Godavari, Damanganga, Krishna rivers and tributaries on a flood alert based on IMD’s forecast. “A close watch is to be maintained in Bhandara, Gondia, Nagpur, Wardha, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli of Maharashtra. River Krishna and its tributaries such as Tungabhadra and Bhima are expected to continue rising slowly and most of the dams in the basin are expected to release considerable quantity of water due to forecasted rainfall. Almost all dams in Krishna Basin in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have reached very close to FRL. A close watch is to be maintained in districts of Pune, Satara, Kolhapur in Maharashtra, among others in other states.”