`Heavy to very heavy' rain alert for Maharashtra coast

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday warned of "heavy to very heavy" rainfall in isolated places in Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and other coastal districts of Maharashtra.

The IMD Mumbai centre issued an `orange' alert for Mumbai region and other coastal districts of Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg as well as Pune in western Maharashtra for Wednesday.

A `yellow' alert was issued for Kolhapur, Satara, Aurangabad and Jalna districts.

The Santacruz weather bureau in suburban Mumbai recorded 86.6 mm rainfall from 8.30 am to 8.30 pm on Tuesday.

The Colaba weather station in Island City reported 50.4 mm rainfall during the same period.

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

Heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected in Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, Palghar, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg, he said.

"In some districts of central Maharashtra and Marathwada, heavy rainfall is expected," the official added.

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

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

According to the IMD, rainfall between 64.5 mm to 115.5 mm is considered "heavy" while that between 115.6 mm and 204.4 mm is termed as "very heavy".