‘Extremely’ heavy rain predicted amid early onset of monsoon in Maharashtra

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that Konkan and Madhya Maharashtra had been receiving widespread heavy rainfall during the last few days. With the monsoon onset, a ‘red’ alert has been issued with chances of extremely heavy rainfall (more than 204mm in 24 hours) over coastal Karnataka, Konkan, Madhya Maharashtra till Monday. Heavy rainfall will continue over these regions during the week ahead. These areas will remain under an ‘orange’ alert till Tuesday, as the monsoon activity is likely to continue through the week ahead.

On Sunday, Pune (Shivajinagar) recorded 117mm rain, becoming the third wettest June day since 1969. Thunder and heavy downpour had crippled city and large parts of Mumbai late on Saturday, inundating most of the major roads and underpasses. Pune’s Lohegaon and peripheral areas recorded 1398mm during the past 24 hours, the IMD data said. The average rainfall over Pune (Shivajinagar) for June is 156.3mm.

With Saturday’s heavy spell, the city has surpassed the monthly average and has now received a total of 209.1mm (till 8.30am of Sunday), notably prior to the monsoon onset. Since 1969, the wettest June day in Pune was experienced in 1991, when the city recorded 529.5mm against the annual rainfall of 763mm.

East India, including Assam, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, are bracing for extremely heavy rainfall.