IMD predicts extremely heavy rainfall in Maharashtra, issues orange alert for Mumbai

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday predicted heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in several districts of Maharashtra for the next two days. The central weather forecasting agency issued a 'red' alert for seven districts - Raigad, Pune, Ratnagiri, Satara, Kolhapur, Sindhudurg, and Gadchiroli for Wednesday. The IMD has also issued heavy rain alerts (orange) for Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Nashik, Yavatmal, and Chandrapur for Wednesday.

For Thursday, a red alert has been issued for five districts, an orange alert for 11 districts including Mumbai, and a yellow alert for 13 districts. There is no red alert for any district on Friday.

Heavy rainfall has lashed parts of Maharashtra in the last few days. Mumbai has also been struck by very heavy rain, which caused massive waterlogging, blocked roads, and disrupted traffic movements including the local train, considered the lifeline of Mumbai. Due to heavy rains, schools and colleges in Raigad in Maharashtra remained closed from July 19 to 24.

Besides Maharashtra, heavy rainfall has also hammered several states in north and southern India. In its latest weather bulletin, the IMD on Wednesday said extremely heavy rainfall activity is likely over Konkan, Goa, central Maharashtra, coastal Karnataka, coastal Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana during the next two days.

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Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, north Haryana, Chandigarh, and West Uttar Pradesh during the next three days.

In central India, isolated extremely heavy rainfall is also likely over Vidarbha till Thursday, July 27. "Isolated very heavy rainfall also likely over Chhattisgarh during 26th-28th July," the weather office said.

The IMD has also predicted 'fairly widespread' to 'isolated heavy rainfall' over Odisha till July 30, sub-Himalaya West Bengal and Sikkim during till July 28, and over Jharkhand and Bihar on July 29 and 30, 2023. "Isolated very heavy rainfall likely over Odisha on 26th July 2023."

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