Heavy rainfall likely in Mumbai, coastal districts; IMD issues orange alert

The India Meteorological Department has issued an orange alert for Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and other coastal districts in Maharashtra stating it is very likely that 'heavy to very heavy' rainfall will occur in isolated places in this region.

The orange alert by the IMD's Mumbai centre is also for coastal districts like Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg as well as Pune in western Maharashtra. A yellow alert for Kolhapur, Satara, Aurangabad and Jalna districts has also been issued.

"Orange and yellow alerts have been issued for Tuesday and Wednesday for central Maharashtra, Marathwada and Konkan regions," an IMD official said.

"On Wednesday, in Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, Palghar, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected. In some districts of central Maharashtra and Marathwada, heavy rainfall is expected," the official said.

On Thursday, heavy rainfall is expected in some places in Konkan and the intensity will go down later, the official added.

An orange alert means the authorities should "be prepared", while a yellow warning asks them to "be updated".

According to IMD, rainfall from 64.5 mm to 115.5 mm is considered 'heavy rainfall', while rainfall between 115.6 mm and 204.4 mm is termed 'very heavy rainfall'.