The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued severe weather warnings for Maharashtra over the next few days, predicting that Konkan, Mumbai, Thane Palghar, Raigad and Madhya Maharashtra will bear the brunt.
Fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy falls are very likely over north Konkan, north Madhya Maharashtra, Vidarbha, Gujarat, east Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha during the next five days.
Isolated extremely heavy falls are likely over Odisha during September 12-13; in north Konkan, north Madhya Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh on September 13 and Konkan and Goa during September 13-14. Scattered to fairly widespread rainfall is likely to continue over peninsular India during next five days, the IMD has said.
In view of the IMD alert, the state’s relief and rehabilitation and disaster management department has sent out an advisory to the concerned district collectors to keep close vigil and take necessary measures, including shifting people from low-lying areas to safer places and keep stocks of essential commodities and water ready for distribution.
IMD Deputy Director General K S Hosalikar tweeted, “Latest satellite obs at 18.30 indicates dense cloud patches over Gujarat, Rajasthan, Vidarbha & isol mod clouds over parts of Marathwada & N Mah. Off the coast of S konkan dense patches are observed over AS too. Watch for IMD updates. There are severe weather warnings for Mah nxt 2,3 days.”
“Imp weather alert by IMD for next 3,4 days in Maharashtra, with higher impact on Konkan Mumbai Thane Palghar, Raigad and Madhya Maharashtra. In view of low pressure in Bay of Bengal further intensifying to Wel Mark Low and likely to further concentrate into Depression, moving WNW (west northwest),” he said in another tweet.
Further, the IMD has predicted localised flooding of roads, inundation and waterlogging in low-lying areas and closure of underpasses mainly in urban areas of the above region. There is likely to be occasional reduction in visibility due to heavy rainfall, disruption of traffic in major cities due to waterlogging on roads, leading to increased travel time and minor damage to ‘kutcha’ roads.
Further, the IMD has said there will be localised landslides and mudslides, damage to horticulture and standing crops in some areas due to inundation. It may lead to riverine flooding in some river catchments.
The IMD has called upon citizens to check for traffic congestion on their respective routes before leaving for their destination, follow any traffic advisories that are issued in this regard, avoid going to areas that face waterlogging problems often and also avoid staying in vulnerable structures.
