Heavy rain warning for hilly areas of Pune, Satara, Kolhapur

The India Meteorological Department has issued "extremely heavy rain" warning for Pune, Satara and Kolhapur districts of Western Maharashtra for Thursday.

The districts of Kolhapur and Sangli have been battered by rains for the last few days and grappling with floods.

However, there was no warning for Sangli district which may get only light-to-moderate rain, the IMD said on Wednesday evening.

"'Extremely heavy rain' warning is issued for Pune, Satara and Kolhapur districts, especially for ghat (hilly) areas, on August 7 and August 8, and on August 9, there is a heavy to very heavy rain warning for these three districts, especially for ghat areas," said Anupam Kashyapi, head, weather department, IMD.

On Thursday, Pune city too is likely to get a good spell of rain, he said.

"There is a red alert exclusively for ghat areas of Pune district," said Kashyapi.

As the dams near Pune are filled to the brim, more water will have to be released, so there is a possibility of "partial inundation" in Pune city and outskirts on Friday, he said.

Ghat areas of Kolhapur are expected to receive extremely heavy rain on Thursday and "heavy to very heavy rain" the day after.

Elsewhere in Maharashtra, there will be a reduction in the rainfall activity on August 10 and on August 11, there will be a significant reduction lasting for at least three to four days, Kashyapi said.