Orange alert issued for Mumbai till Tuesday as heavy rains are set to continue in Konkan region
Powai, Fort, Borivali areas record above 100 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours.
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The civic body’s data shows that Mumbai’s western suburbs recorded an average of 104 mm of rainfall, followed by 93 mm in island city and 78 mm in the eastern suburbs. (Express photo by Akash Patil)The India Meteorological Department (IMD) in its latest five-day forecast has issued an orange alert for Mumbai till August 19 (Tuesday), indicating heavy to very heavy rainfall to continue in most parts of the city.
Alongside Mumbai, the IMD has issued an orange alert for several districts in the Konkan region of Maharashtra. For the Thane and Palghar districts, an orange alert has been issued for the next three days and for the Ratnagiri district, a red alert has been kept in place for August 17 (Sunday) and August 18 (Monday).
“The heavy rainfall is being caused due to a low pressure that has developed over the Bay of Bengal which has led to the formation of an east-west trough extending to the Arabian sea and leading to severe rainfall in Konkan coast of Maharashtra. The rainfall will continue till the middle of next week as a result of which the alerts have been extended for Mumbai,” an IMD official told The Indian Express.
Data furnished by the IMD showed that the Santacruz observatory recorded 85 mm of rainfall till 8.30 am on Sunday, while the coastal observatory at Colaba recorded 55 mm. This came a day after the weather bureau recorded 245 mm at Santacruz while 85 mm was recorded at Colaba. Meanwhile, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s automatic weather system (AWS) showed that several pockets in the city continued to record above 100 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours.
The civic body’s data shows that Mumbai’s western suburbs recorded an average of 104 mm of rainfall, followed by 93 mm in island city and 78 mm in the eastern suburbs. Charkop in the western suburbs recorded 190 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours, followed by Anand Nagar (Dahisar) (188 mm) and Borivali (168 mm). In the eastern suburbs, Powai recorded 134 mm of rainfall, followed by Bhandup (129 mm). In the island city, the Fort area recorded 134 mm of rainfall followed by Cotton Green (132 mm) and Grant Road (129 mm).
The BMC’s disaster cell has also alerted a 3.32-meter high tide around 5.22 pm on Sunday, and a 3.54-meter-long tide for Monday 7.55 am. The civic body has urged citizens to not visit the shoreline during these periods.
The seven lakes
Meanwhile, the water stock in the seven lakes that supply water to Mumbai have touched the 90 per cent mark on Sunday morning. This is a jump by only one percentage point since the catchment areas that are located outside Mumbai didn’t receive good rainfall in the last 24 hours.
Being an island city, Mumbai draws its potable water from seven lakes – Tulsi, Vihar, Bhatsa, Tansa, Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna, and Modak Sagar. While the Tulsi and Vihar lakes are located within Mumbai, the rest are situated in the neighbouring districts of Thane, Palghar, and Nashik. The catchment area of these lakes gets filled during the monsoon, and the water is transported through tunnels to the BMC’s filtration plant.
At present, the overall average water stock stands at 90.68 per cent or 13.12 lakh million litres out of the total capacity of 14.47 lakh million litres. Last year on August 17, the water stock in the seven lakes stood at 93.20 per cent, while in 2024 the stock stood at 83.45 per cent.
The BMC’s data shows that of the seven lakes, Tulsi is 100 per cent full, followed by Tansa (98.45 per cent), Middle Vaitarna (97.17 per cent), Vihar lake (89.92 per cent), Bhatsa lake (89.23 per cent), Modak Sagar (87.28 per cent) and Upper Vaitarna (86.48 per cent).
In the past 24 hours, the catchment areas of Tulsi lake received 150 mm of rainfall, followed by 75 mm recorded around the Vihar Lake and 42 mm recorded around Bhatsa lake. Around 21 mm of rainfall was recorded in the catchment of Tansa lake, followed by Middle Vaitarna (17 mm), Modak Sagar (14 mm), and Upper Vaitarna (12 mm).
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