Heavy rains all set to lash west coast; Mumbai, Nashik to be hit

The monsoon is poised to make a big-bang advance along the west coast and lash Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa with torrential rain that threatens Mumbai, Nashik and other cities with waterlogging from tidal waves and rapidly rising rivers in the next six days.

“Due to the forecast of very heavy rains in and around Mumbai and advance of southwest monsoon causing tidal waves, there is likelihood of inundation in some of the heavy rainfall affected urban areas of Mumbai city,” the ministry of water resources said.

It said rivers flowing from the Western Ghats into the Arabian Sea may witness flash floods. “Since most of the rivers are dry, necessary precautions to control the activities along the river bed may be taken as flow may increase suddenly drowning men and materials,” it said. The damage would be limited by depleted reservoirs, which have lesser water than average.


“The dams in the basins have sufficient storage and hence the expected rainfall may give some inflows into these reservoirs depending on the severity of the rainfall,” it said. IMD said the forecast was part of the monsoon’s progress. “We expect further advance into Maharashtra within the next 24 hours,” KSathi Devi, head of national weather forecasting centre at IMD, said on Wednesday.

Rainfall activity is likely to increase over coastal Karnataka, Goa and south coastal Maharashtra from June 7 onwards with wide spread rainfall activity along with heavy to very heavy rainfall in some places, the India Meteorological Department said. The normal date for onset of southwest monsoon in Mumbai is June 10. Heavy rainfall is likely in Mumbai around June 8-11, with rainfall measuring up to 500 mm during this period, independent forecaster Skymet said. Skymet had warned of a strong onset of monsoon over Maharashtra last month, with likelihood of heavy rainfall lashing the region, and chances of floods in Mumbai.


“There could be water logging in some low-lying areas in Mumbai,” said Mahesh Palawat, chief meteorologist at Skymet. Monsoon was likely to advance into Maharashtra on June 6, IMD had said last week. The southwest monsoon arrived in Kerala on May 29, three days ahead of schedule and south peninsular and north eastern states have witnessed heavy rainfall since. Coastal Karnataka, Goa and south coastal Maharashtra are likely to witness increased rainfall activity from Thursday till June 12, IMD said. Rainfall will also increase over north Odisha, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam and Meghalaya during June 8-11with heavy to very heavy rainfall forecast for the region.