Despite receiving 81% of the season’s total rainfall so far, the city has been experiencing incessant showers over the past few days. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast extremely heavy rain for Thane, Raigad, Palghar on Saturday and Sunday, and extremely heavy rain in the city on Sunday.
Unabated rainfall
Last month, the city received the second-highest rainfall since 1959, falling marginally short of the rainfall figures in 2014. The showers have continued unabated in August, with the city receiving 13 mm rain on Thursday. The IMD’s Santacruz weather station recorded 43.4 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours, ending 8.30 a.m. on Friday. During the same period, the department’s weather station at Colaba recorded 21.2 mm rainfall. Between 8.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. on Friday, the city recorded 66.1 mm rain, raising the season’s total rainfall figure to 2,036.3 mm.
The water levels in the catchment areas of the seven lakes supplying water to the city have risen owing to heavy rainfall in Nashik and Thane districts. The stock in the lakes now stands at 12,75,017 million litres or 88.09% of the total capacity, and four of these lakes have breached their banks. With sufficient water reserves, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has rolled back the 10% water cut it had imposed last year.
In a press release issued on Friday, the IMD said, “Due to strengthening of monsoon and likelihood of formation of a low pressure area over northeast Bay of Bengal, rainfall intensity is likely to increase over Konkan and adjoining ghat areas of central Maharashtra in the next two to three days.”
Warnings issued
Skymet has forecast the possibility of rainfall figures hitting three-digits. K.S. Hosalikar, deputy director general of meteorology, IMD, tweeted, “With the development of low pressure area over Bay, this Saturday night and Sunday, Mumbai is very likely to get intense heavy rainfalls. Warnings are issued including West coast (sic).”
Soldiers rescue 70 people
Soldiers of the Army’s 15 Punjab Regiment rescued 70 people trapped in a flooded area in Thane district last week, a senior Army official said on Friday. The local civil administration had requisitioned the Army for rescuing civilians from the flooded petrol pump at Kamba in Kalyan, the official said.
He said, “These people had been stranded for about eight to 10 hours when the Army was alerted. The infantry battalion at Colaba was tasked with the rescue operation.” The Army unit launched two rescue and relief columns of three officers, two Junior Commissioned Officers and 65 personnel from other ranks. The teams managed to reach the site quickly and rescued the stranded people.
The official said, “A number of boat missions were launched. In all, about 70 civilians were rescued and food and medicines were distributed to around 250 civilians.” The soldiers also assisted other agencies to coordinate the flood relief operations. The official said that residents of Kalyan thanked the battalion for their efforts. On July 28, an Air Force helicopter airlifted nine people who were stranded on the roof of a petrol station at Kamba village on Kalyan-Murbad Road and dropped them at the domestic airport in Vile Parle.
(With PTI inputs)
