Mumbai Rains: Red-level Warning for Next 18 Hours as Heavy Showers Likely in Capital, Thane & Konkan

In the wake of the heavy downpour in Mumbai and coastal Maharashtra, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday upgraded the warning status from orange to red, a special bulletin on the city's rain said on Wednesday.

The city has been witnessing heavy rains since Tuesday night, resulting in water logging in many areas. Red alert has been issued for Mumbai, R K Jenamani, scientist with the National Weather Forecasting Centre, said.

The bulletin said scattered "heavy to very heavy rainfall" with isolated "extremely heavy falls" are very likely to occur over Mumbai city, Thane, Raigad and Ratnagiri districts during the next 18 hours.

The bulletin added that due to the heavy rains, inundation of low-lying areas is expected. The rains could also lead to disruption in electricity and water supply, local traffic and road transport.

Waterlogging can be seen in parts of Andheri area of Mumbai due to incessant rainfall. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has requested people stay to away from the shore and not venture into waterlogged areas.

The trend may continue on Thursday with reduced intensity, it said. On Tuesday, the IMD issued an orange alert for Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and other coastal districts in Maharashtra, saying 'heavy to very heavy' rainfall is very likely at isolated places in the region on Wednesday.

IMD Mumbais Deputy Director General K S Hosalikar in a tweet on Wednesday said, IMD GFS forecast for rains indicate heavy to very heavy with possibilities of isolated extremely heavy (more than 200mm) RF over konkan, including Mumbai, Thane today."

"Tomorrow trend to continue with little reduced intensity. Satellite, radar indicating intense clouds over coast PL TC, he added. Hosalikar said the observatories at Dahanu (in Palghar) and Alibaug (Raigad) recorded 128 mm and 122.6 mm rainfall, respectively, during the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Wednesday.

The Colaba weather bureau in South Mumbai recorded 121.6 mm rainfall, while the Santacruz weather station, representative of Mumbais suburbs, reported 96.6 rainfall during the same period.

The Ratnagiri observatory recorded 101.3 mm rainfall during the period, while the Harnai weather station in the district reported 89 mm rain. The Thane Belapur Industries Association bureau reported 35.2 mm rainfall and Kolhapur district in western Maharashtra received 16.8 mm rainfall, the IMD said.