The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the monsoon in Maharashtra is expected to withdraw by October 5 this year.
Several places in Maharashtra, especially Mumbai and Pune, were left waterlogged after torrential rains on Wednesday night.
Speaking to ANI regarding the monsoon in the state, Regional Meteorological Centre in Mumbai Scientist Sunil Kamble said that Mumbai received almost 2900 millimetres of rainfall during this monsoon season, which is 600 mm above the normal average.
“In 3-4 months’ monsoon, Mumbai should record 2300 mm rain, but, as of now, it has recorded 2900 mm rains, almost 600 mm above normal,” Kamble said.
“In the next 5-6 monsoon will reduce and there are chances that monsoon will withdraw by October 5 but sometimes the chances increase, so the withdrawal date extends to October 10,” he added.
Kamble said that a red alert was issued for Mumbai earlier as the monsoon is intensifying and later an orange alert was issued.
“Till yesterday afternoon, an orange alert was issued for Mumbai. But with the monsoon intensifying, we issued a red alert till 8.30 am this morning. As soon as we issued a red alert we saw that more than 200 mm of rain was registered in the regions of Mumbai. Today, we have issued an orange alert for Mumbai. From today, an orange alert has been issued for a lot of districts and from tomorrow green and yellow alerts will be issued,” Kamble said.
“A red alert has been issued for Palghar because the intensity of monsoon there shows the possibility of 150mm-200mm rains,” he added.
Kamble said that among all the areas, Kolaba, Santacruz and Chembur received the most rainfall on Wednesday.
“If we see today’s data of IMD’s observatory, almost 170 mm rain has been registered in Kolaba and Santacruz and around 200 mm rain has been recorded in Chembur, according to the automatic weather stations. Whenever there is a possibility of intensifying adverse weather, the IMD issues a red alert and whenever we issue a red alert for any district, our (IMD) office gives the information to the district authority through SMS and emails,” he said.
Several parts of the state witnessed severe waterlogging due to heavy rains on Wednesday. Train, bus and flight services were affected in Mumbai and Pune following the downpour. Train and bus services were restored on Thursday morning as the water has receded in many parts.
According to the Central Railways, all local trains are running normally. “On the main line, 3-4 minutes behind schedule because of rescheduled mail express movements and few cautions, Rest all normal,” it added. The Western Railway suburban services were also restored on Thursday despite the heavy rains as the waters have receded at several stations.
The city administration has declared a holiday for all schools and colleges in Mumbai following the IMD forecast. The Pune district administration has also declared a holiday for schools and colleges due to a heavy rainfall prediction in the city. IMD has issued an orange alert for Pune.
(With inputs from ANI)
