Heavy rains continue to lash Mumbai, adjoining districts; IMD issues red alert

Heavy rains continue to lash parts of Maharashtra including Mumbai and adjoining districts. Several low-lying areas of Mumbai, Thane and Palghar districts are still inundated after heavy rains over the last couple of days. 

According to reports, water-logging was witnessed in the Vasai-Virar, and many parts of south Mumbai like Girgaum Chowpatty, Madanpura, Byculla, Hindmata, and Worli. Teams of NDRF have been stationed in these areas to carry out rescue operations if needed. 

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and some other parts of Maharashtra for Wednesday. The IMD has warned of heavy rains in Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Pune, Ahmednagar and Nashik districts on Wednesday and Thursday.

The intensity of rain is likely to decrease from August 6, the weather agency said. 

Earlier on Tuesday, Maharashtra Tourism and Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Iqbal Chahal visited the areas affected due to heavy rains in the city. 

They visited areas near ONGC, Bandra East, Milan Subway, Andheri Subway, Kurla`s Kranti Nagar area, Gandhi Market, Matunga, King`s Circle and Dadar Hindmata to take a stock of the situation.

Thackeray later made a series of tweets and said that BMC Mayor, Commissioner and other officials were on ground to ensure that the work in Mumbai runs smoothly."Took stock of the situation at Gandhi Market, Matunga and King`s Circle with BMC Commissioner IS Chahal Ji. Perhaps for the first time after July 2005, Mumbai has experienced such heavy rains in a 12 hour span," he said.

"Also visited Dadar Hindmata where water is being pumped out from low lying waterlogged areas. Hindmata alone received 198mm of rainfall in just 5 hours," he added.

Thackeray said he also visited the Worli pumping station. "Work is on in full swing to drain out water from waterlogged areas. BMC Mayor, Commissioner, officers, staff are all on ground to ensure that the work in Mumbai runs smoothly," he said.

Mumbai recorded 230 mm rainfall in 10 hours of incessant rainfall on Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, the Koyna dam in western Maharashtra has received as much as 6 TMC water in just last 24 hours due to heavy showers in its catchment areas. 

Located in the main mountain ranges of Sahyadri (or Western Ghats) in Satara district, Koyna dam generates around 2,000 MW of power. 

The 105 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) capacity reservoir has been receiving extremely heavy showers from the morning of August 4.