IMD’s red alert: Mumbai, Thane and Raigad brace for extremely heavy rain | Mumbai News – Times of India

MUMBAI: A red alert was issued by the IMD on Wednesday evening for Mumbai, Thane, and Raigad, indicating extremely heavy rainfall and thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds at isolated places likely. The forecast was valid until 8:30 AM on September 26, Thursday. An orange alert was in place for Thursday.
However, the IMD’s red alert for Wednesday came after issuing an orange alert earlier in the day, which they upgraded to a red alert by evening.By that time, the city had begun to experience intense rains, thunder, and gusty winds.
By Wednesday morning, Mumbai had already woken up to another day of heavy rain, with 74 mm recorded in the 24 hours ending at 8:30 AM on September 25. According to the India Meteorological Department’s classification, rainfall recorded between 64.5 mm and 115.5 mm falls into the heavy rain category. In the 24 hours between September 23 and 24, 75 mm of rain was recorded, totaling 149 mm in a span of 48 hours. The weather bureau, in its forecast issued on Wednesday, indicated that the wet spell would continue.
An orange alert indicates heavy to very heavy rainfall and thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds at isolated places likely. For Palghar, a red alert has been issued for September 26, forecasting extremely heavy rainfall and thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds at isolated places. “Under the influence of a cyclonic circulation over the Central Bay of Bengal, a low-pressure area has formed over the West-Central Bay of Bengal and adjoining Northwest Bay off the north Andhra-south Odisha coasts.”
In response to the IMD’s orange alert for September 26, Rushikesh Agre, who tweets from the X handle @MumbaiRains, said, “Rains will intensify from Wednesday evening and continue into tomorrow (Thursday). Today’s first half remained relatively unaffected by the orange alert, but Mumbai can expect a greater impact on September 26.”
The current weather pattern is marked by thunderstorm activity, resulting in short but intense bursts of rain that have led to localized flooding. On Wednesday afternoon, the Andheri subway was briefly closed due to waterlogging. Areas like Mulund, Thane, Panvel, Kharghar, and Kamothe saw intense rain activity on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, water levels in the city’s lakes have risen past 99% capacity, or 14.36 lakh million litres. The total water stocks in the seven lakes supplying the city on September 30 need to be 14.47 lakh million litres for the city to go without a water cut for the rest of the year. In the last two years, the water stocks on the same date were around 98-99%.