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MUMBAI : Maharashtra is seeing heavy downpour in the past couple of days, that has also resulted in water-logged capital city Mumbai.
Weather forecasters have predicted that the finance capital of India could see rainfall in July 2022 that would break their all-time record. Mumbai, which has been witnessing heavy rainfall for the last couple of days, has also seen the city pile up 124mm of rainfall in 24-hour time period. Mumbai has accumulated 463mm of deluge in the last 5 day.
Meanwhile, the Indian Metrological Department has issued a red alert for heavy rainfall in the state of Maharashtra for the next two days, from 6-8 July.
The IMD has issued a 'red alert' for south Konkan, Goa and south central Maharashtra from July 6-8. It said heavy to very heavy rainfall is very likely at a few places with extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places during this period.
It issued an 'orange alert' for north Konkan.
For north central Maharashtra, east Vidarbha and west Vidarbha, the IMD issued a 'yellow alert' for Wednesday and orange for Thursday and Friday. There was a 'yellow alert' for the Marathwada region, forecasting heavy rainfall on Wednesday and the next two days.
The MeT department issues four colour-coded predictions based on the prevailing weather systems. The green colour indicates no warning, yellow is to keep a watch, orange is to stay alert, while red means a warning and that action needs to be taken.
IMD Director General Mrutunjay Mohapatra said an off-shore trough lies across the Gujarat and Maharashtra coast and low pressure over west Madhya Pradesh, resulting in heavy rainfall over Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Mumbai is likely to witness another wet day as the IMD has predicted moderate to heavy rain in the city and suburbs, with a possibility of extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in the next 24 hours, according to civic officials.
Three days of heavy downpour has resulted in a landslide near a chawl, water-logging at many places and traffic disruptions. Three residents of the capital city of Maharashtra were injured in the landslide, an official said.
A landslide also occurred on a road leading to the Pratapgad Fort in western Maharashtra's Satara district on Wednesday following heavy rains. There was no report of any casualty and no one was trapped in the debris, the Public Works Department's executive engineer, Sanjay Sonawane, said.
In Mumbai, a minor boy and two other persons were injured after a portion of a hill crashed on the two-storey Narayan Hadke Chawl (tenement) in Chunabhatti area around 10.30 am, a civic official said. Three rooms in the chawl were damaged due to the landslide. As a precaution, the civic body has evacuated residents from other adjoining rooms in the chawl, he said.
The injured persons - Shubham Sonawane (15), Prakash Sonawane (40) and Surekha Virkar (20) - were immediately shifted to the nearby civic-run Sion Hospital, the official said, adding that their condition is stable. The Central Railway and Western Railway officials said the local trains were operating normally, but some commuters claimed the suburban services were running a little late. A spokesperson of the BEST Undertaking said their bus services were diverted on two dozen routes at six locations.
Private weather forecasting company Skymet has said there could be extremely heavy rains in parts of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, and Gujarat on Thursday and Friday. Several parts of the state have been witnessing heavy rainfall since July 4. In many parts, rivers have been flowing near the danger mark and inundating low-lying areas.
In the 24-hour period ending at 8 am on Wednesday, the island city (south Mumbai) received an average 107 mm rainfall, while the eastern and western suburbs recorded 172 mm and 152 mm downpour, respectively, a civic official said.
While lakes in the city were filling up because of the incessant rains, there was no end to woes of the general public as many low-lying places like Hindmata, and areas in Dadar and Sion, including the Gandhi Market and road number 24 in Sion, were inundated, forcing pedestrians to wade through the water and making it difficult for motorists to commute.
Water-logging was reported near the Neelam Junction, Deonar, Mankhrud railway bridge, Everard Nagar, Antop Hill, Chembur, Dadar T T Junction, Hindmata junction, Sakkar Panchayat, Wadala, Kings Circle, Matunga, Kurla Kamani area and some other places, due to which traffic movement was slow, a police official said.
In view of the inundation at Dadar TT, traffic was diverted via Gokhale Road, he said. Water-logging was also reported near the Worli end of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, due to which the south-bound traffic was moving slow, he said.
The Khar subway was also flooded, affecting the vehicular traffic, the official said. At the Mancherji Joshi Chowk junction in Matunga and near Asalpha bus stop in Ghatkopar, there was water-logging up to two feet and at the Crystal House area in Powai up to one feet, disrupting road traffic, he said.
In Satara, the famous Mahabaleshwar hill station witnessed heavy rains on Tuesday. It recorded 197 mm downpour in the 24-hour period ending at 8 am on Wednesday, a district official said.