Rain eases after morning showers drench Mumbai; 'orange alert' in place

Heavy rains lashed Mumbai on Monday morning, causing water-logging in low-lying areas and slowing down traffic during the office rush hour.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a 'red alert' at 8.30 am, predicting very heavy showers in the city and neighbouring areas for three hours, but later revised it to an 'orange alert' as the rain intensity reduced.

After heavy rains overnight and in the morning, commuters complained of water accumulation on tracks at Dadar, Kurla and Bandra railway stations, and local trains running late by 10 to 15 minutes.

Spokespersons of the Western Railway and the Central Railway, however, said their suburban services were running normally, despite continuous rainfall since last night.

The heavy downpour, which began around midnight with lightning and thunder, continued in the morning, leading to inundation of low-lying areas like King's Circle, Lalbaug, Worli, Dadar, Parel, Kurla and other areas.

The water-filled potholes further worsened the road traffic conditions.

In a nowcast warning issued at 8.30 am, the civic body said the weatherman predicted intense to very intense spells of rain and thunderstorms accompanied with lightning and gusty winds reaching 30-40 kmph in Mumbai and neighbouring Thane and Raigad districts for the next three hours.

The IMD had then issued a 'red alert' for Mumbai, Thane and Ratnagiri districts.

''A red alert was issued, but it was applicable only till 11.30 am. Now, the red alert is confined to Raigad district, while the rest of the region has been placed under an orange alert,'' a senior IMD official said.

For the next 24 hours, the IMD has predicted ''cloudy sky with heavy to very heavy rain'' at isolated places in the city and suburbs with a possibility of thunder and lightning, besides gusty winds at a speed of 30-40 kmph, a civic official said.

In the last 24 hours, the Colaba observatory in south Mumbai recorded 134.4 mm rainfall, while the Santacruz observatory in the suburbs registered 73.2 mm downpour.

As per the civic body's rainfall data, the island city recorded an average rainfall of 111.19 mm, followed by 76.46 mm in the eastern suburbs and 74.15 mm in the western suburbs in the 24-hour period ending at 8 am on Monday.

The IMD has also issued an 'orange alert' for Palghar, Pune, Ahilyanagar and Beed districts, forecasting heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places.

The Marathwada region, including Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, is also expected to witness heavy showers on Monday and Tuesday. The rain activity is likely to reduce across most parts of the state, including north Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha, from Wednesday onwards, the IMD added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)