IMD warns of heavy rainfall, flash floods in Central India, red alert issued for Maharashtra

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a warning on Sunday that areas of central India and the west coast are likely to experience heavy rainfall of more than 200mm in the upcoming 3-4 days, which could cause flash floods in numerous spots, Hindustan Times reported citing the weather department. On Saturday evening, the weather forecaster said that a low-pressure system had developed due to cyclonic activity over the northwest Bay of Bengal and its surrounding area, near the shores of West Bengal and Odisha. This is probably going to get worse and turn into a depression that moves across Chhattisgarh and Odisha to the west-northwest.The weather office reported that the monsoon trough, an extended area of low pressure, is also active and lying south of its usual location and will remain so for the next 4-5 days.

 "Already, some parts of Odisha and Konkan region have started receiving very heavy and extremely heavy rain on Sunday. Under the influence of the depression, rain will increase over central India during the next 3-4 days," said M Mohapatra, director general of IMD.The agency has issued a red alert for Monday in Telangana and Maharashtra, and an orange alert for Tuesday and Wednesday in central and western India, including Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. Heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places in Mumbai and Thane is expected for the next three days, as per the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) release.Mumbai Regional Meteorological Centre on Sunday predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall for August 8, August 9, and August 10, in Mumbai, Thane and Palghar districts. An orange alert has been issued for the three districts.  On Sunday, August 7 till 6 pm, the island city (south Mumbai) received 5.55 mm of rainfall, while Mumbai's eastern suburbs and western suburbs received 24.17 mm and 23.27 mm of rainfall respectively. The Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC) of Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) stated that Thane city received 18.27 mm of rainfall on August 7.