Monsoon rain batters west coast, fishermen advised not to venture into high seas

As the southwest monsoon makes a steady progress up north, India's west coast was battered today by heavy rainfall, especially the coastal Karnataka, Goa and south Konkan region, the India Meteorological Department said.

The Northern Limit of Monsoon now passes through Thane (including Mumbai), Ahmednagar, Parbhani, Yeotmal, Brahmapuri, Rajnandgaon, Bhavanipatna, Puri, Agartala, north Lakhmipur. Conditions are turning favourable for its advance to Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and parts of West Bengal, Sikkim and other northeastern states in the next 48 hours, it said.

"Heavy to very heavy rain" was recorded at a few places over coastal Karnataka and south Konkan and Goa while "heavy to very heavy rain" was recorded at isolated places in north Konkan, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, central Maharashtra, south-interior Karnataka and Kerala," the IMD said in its monsoon bulletin.

For tomorrow, the Met department has predicted "heavy to very heavy rain" at a few places in coastal Karnataka, Konkan, Goa, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Odisha and Kerala.

"Thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds and lightning are very likely at isolated places over east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand while heat wave conditions very likely at one or two pockets over west Rajasthan," the IMD said.

Squalls gusting to 60 kmph are very likely along Odisha and West Bengal coasts and over north Bay of Bengal.

Sea conditions are likely to be "rough to very rough", it said, advising fishermen not to venture into the waters.