Orange alert sounded for city as heavy rain, thunderstorm sweeps Mumbai suburbs

According to the BMC's automatic weather station data, the heaviest rain was recorded in the eastern suburbs at an average of 55mm.

Dark clouds hover over the city of Mumbai as IMD has sounded a yellow alert for Mumbai until Wednesday, at Marine Drive in Mumbai. (Express photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee)

Heavy showers coupled with thunderstorms and lightning swept the suburbs of Mumbai and its neighbouring districts in the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said heavy to very heavy rain, along with thunderstorms, is here to stay, sounding an orange alert for Mumbai for Wednesday.

After a long lull, heavy rain made a comeback in the city on Monday morning with the intensity gathering pace during the late hours, when loud thunder activity, lightning and rainfall rattled the suburbs. Data furnished by IMD showed that while its Santacruz station recorded 75mm of rain, the Colaba coastal observatory recorded 16mm in the 24 hours ending at 8.30am on Tuesday morning.

According to the BMC’s automatic weather station data, the heaviest rain was recorded in the eastern suburbs at an average of 55mm, followed by the western suburbs (35.73 mm) and the island city division (31.10mm). With nearly 100mm of rainfall recorded over the past two days, the Santacruz station registered 266mm in September, which had been reeling under a dry spell until the weekend so far. Mumbai registers nearly 360mm of rainfall on average in September.

Owing to the likelihood of heavy to very heavy downpour, the IMD has issued an orange alert in Mumbai until Thursday morning while in Thane, an orange alert has been issued until Friday morning.

Meanwhile, in the neighbouring district of Raigad, a red alert (extremely heavy rainfall), alongside thunderstorm and lightning, has been sounded for Wednesday while Palghar has been placed under a red warning on Thursday.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Sushma Nair, scientist from IMD Mumbai, said the orange alert has been issued amid the possibility of thunderstorms along with heavy showers owing to favourable conditions.

“Currently, we are having moist easterlies at mid levels and this type of environment is favourable for thunderstorms. Alongside that, there is a low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal, which will aid in the influx of moisture that is conducive for heavy rainfall,” added Nair.

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Later in the week, the intensity of showers will recede with the IMD issuing a downgraded ‘yellow’ alert for Mumbai for Thursday while no alerts have been issued over the weekend.

Currently, the stock in the seven lakes catering to Mumbai’s water needs soared to 98.28 per cent or 14.22 lakh million litres of the total capacity on Tuesday morning. Lakes which supply water to Mumbai get water during the four monsoon months, following which potable water is transported and supplied to the city throughout the year through a labyrinthine network of pipelines.

The official date of monsoon withdrawal in Mumbai is October 10.

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