The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for Mumbai, Pune, Raigad, and other districts in Maharashtra, warning of extremely heavy rainfall and strong winds. The alert comes after intense monsoon showers battered large parts of the state, causing landslides and damage to infrastructure. In view of the severe weather, the Pune district administration has ordered all schools to remain closed. Traffic on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway and the old Mumbai-Pune Highway was suspended earlier in the day due to a landslide and damage to a retaining wall, but has since been restored on the Mumbai-Pune carriageway. The IMD warning also covers Thane, Palghar, Ratnagiri, and Kolhapur districts, with the weather department predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall accompanied by strong winds gusting up to 70-80 kmph. Lonavala recorded 670 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending Monday morning, making it one of the wettest days in the region in recent years. Mahabaleshwar, in the state’s Satara district, received 513 mm of rainfall during the same period, marking its second-highest 24-hour rainfall since 2014.
The intense rainfall has been driven by a combination of strong monsoon winds from the Arabian Sea and a depression moving across central India. The weather system is expected to move towards Vidarbha and Marathwada over the next two days, with the IMD warning of extremely heavy rainfall over Konkan, Central Maharashtra, and Eastern Gujarat through Tuesday. The IMD has advised commuters to check traffic conditions before leaving for their destinations and follow traffic advisories issued by authorities. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has also appealed to residents to avoid venturing out for non-essential work and to maintain a safe distance from trees, dilapidated buildings, hoardings, electric poles, and other vulnerable structures.
