- India
- International
The India Meteorological Department has issued an ‘Orange’ alert of heavy to very heavy rainfall (64.5 mm to 201.4 mm in 24 hours) for eight districts in Madhya Maharashtra and Konkan till September 15.
These districts include Pune, Satara, Palghar, Thane, Mumbai, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Kolhapur.
Maximum intense rain spells are forecast on Monday over these districts.
In Pune, heavy rainfall will mostly be restricted along the ghat areas, whereas the city is likely to experience light to moderate intensity rain (6.4 mm to 64.4 mm in 24 hours) over the next three days. All major dams in Pune have reached full capacity and water was released from the Khadakwasla dam over the weekend. This season, Pune city has recorded 449.6 mm rain, four per cent short of normal.
Due to favourable conditions, rainfall over Maharashtra has been persistent for a week. The state’s seasonal rainfall stood 10 per cent surplus on Sunday.
Except Marathwada, the southwest monsoon was active over the rest of Maharashtra on Sunday with sub-divisions Konkan and Goa (213 per cent), Madhya Maharashtra (137 per cent) and Vidarbha (175 per cent) recording very large daily surplus rainfall. Maharashtra recorded 122 per cent excess rain on Sunday alone.
A well-marked low pressure developed in the west-central Bay of Bengal off the Odisha coast intensified into a depression by Sunday evening. This system is expected to move west-northwestwards along Odisha and north Chhattisgarh in the next three days.
– Stay updated with the latest Pune news. Follow Express Pune on Twitter here and on Facebook here. You can also join our Express Pune Telegram channel here.
Another low-pressure system that had formed last week was located over the southwest Rajasthan region. The monsoon trough ran from this low-pressure system all the way ending at the depression in the Bay of Bengal.
“Due to these systems, the monsoon will be active over Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra — mainly Konkan, Goa and Madhya Maharashtra till Wednesday,” said Anupam Kashyapi, head, weather forecasting division, IMD, Pune.
With such enhanced rainfall persisting for over a week, only the Nandurbar district (- 29 per cent) now remains deficient in Maharashtra. It is for the first time this season when rainfall over other deficient districts, including Gondia and Amravati, have now become normal.