Mumbai gets soaked again; IMD says rain intensity to drop from today

MUMBAI: Heavy rain continued to drench the city and its neighbouring areas for the second consecutive day, though the intensity was less compared to the triple-digit rainfall of 111mm recorded by the IMD Santacruz observatory in the 24-hour period ending Friday 8.30am.
In the 12-hour period ending Friday 8.30pm, the Colaba and Santacruz weather stations recorded 47mm and 73mm rainfall, respectively.Kalyan recorded 89mm of rainfall, Dombivli (W) 74mm, Vasai 63mm, Panvel 61mm, Virar 34mm and Thane 32mm, according to data provided by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
On Friday afternoon, the IMD upgraded its warning for the day to an orange alert, indicating heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places.
The IMD, in its five-day forecast, said that rain intensity would reduce from Saturday. For Mumbai, the IMD has issued a green alert, indicating moderate rainfall very likely, and for Thane, Palghar and Raigad, it issued a yellow alert, indicating heavy rainfall and thunderstorms likely.
Weathermen said the heavy rain was the result of a cyclonic circulation over central parts of interior Odisha and adjoining Chhattisgarh, which now was over southeast Madhya Pradesh.
Independent meteorologists pointed that the low-pressure area which formed in the west-central part near the north-west over the Bay of Bengal on September 5, had weakened into a cyclonic circulation, but it was strong enough to give the entire region significant rain.
Athreya Shetty, known for his regular Mumbai rain forecasts on Twitter, said, "The heavy spell, however, is not expected to last long. By Sunday, the city will go back to witnessing on and off showers. The next heavy rain spell can only be expected around September 16, closer to Ganpati festival." Mahesh Palawat, vice-president, meteorology and climate change at Skymet Weather, said that as the system was in the southern parts of Madhya Pradesh, the western and eastern parts of Mumbai saw much more rain activity. "The rain activity should continue till Sunday and then fizzle out," he added.
The heavy rain brought some cheer for Mumbaikars as total water stock in the seven lakes supplying to the city touched 93.2% of the total capacity, a 3% increase compared to Thursday. The total water quantum is now nearly 13.5 lakh million litres. The total water stock needs to be around 14.47 lakh million litres by October 1 for Mumbai to go without a water cut for the rest of the year.