IMD issues season’s first red alert as Mumbai braces for heavier rain

The unabated showers triggered waterlogging across several pockets of the Mumbai Metropolitan region.

According to the weather bureau, rain activity is slated to intensify from Saturday with the India Meteorological Department sounding a red alert across the Mumbai Metropolitan region (MMR). In Mumbai, the IMD has sounded a red alert in Mumbai, Thane and Palghar districts between Saturday and Monday morning while Raigad district is slated to remain under a red alert until Sunday morning.

Meteorologists have attributed the intense spells to a combination of active weather systems including an off-shore trough, shear zone as well as a low pressure area over northeast Bay of Bengal which is likely to become more well marked over the next two days.

IMD has stated the possibility of heavy to extremely heavy rain in Mumbai till July 5, following which showers are likely to become less intense. An orange alert is issued in the likelihood of 115.6 mm to 204.4 mm rain within 24 hours, while a red alert is sounded amid the possibility of extremely heavy rainfall above 204.4 mm within a day.

Meanwhile, heavy downpour continued throughout Friday with the IMD’s Santacruz station recording 51 mm between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm while the Colaba coastal observatory receiving nearly 37 mm rainfall.

Spurred by heavy showers over the past few days, the water stock in the seven lakes that supply Mumbai’s potable water continued to soar. On Friday morning, the water stock in the seven lakes touched 1.29 lakh million litres, or 8.93 per cent of the total capacity. Between Thursday and Friday morning, the heaviest spells were recorded over Tulsi Lake at 164 mm, followed by 137 mm of rain over Vihar Lake.