Mumbai rains: Intermittent downpours lash city as IMD issues orange alert

Mumbai: Intermittent rains lashed Mumbai on Wednesday, but the rail and transport services were not affected, officials said. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has sounded an ‘orange alert’ for Mumbai on Wednesday, indicating the possibility of heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places. Though there was increased rain intensity in the city and suburbs since morning, there was no report of any major water-logging in low-lying areas like Hindmata, Matunga and Kurla, officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. According to BMC officials, the IMD has predicted moderate to heavy rain in the city and suburbs with the possibility of very heavy showers at a few places and occasional winds reaching 45-55 kmph gusting to 60 kmph in some areas. The island city recorded 11.69 mm rain, while the eastern and western suburbs received 17.95 mm and 13.24 mm rain, respectively, in the 24-hour period ending at 8 am on Wednesday, the BMC said. “In spite of the heavy rains, the Western Railway’s suburban train services are running normal,” WR’s chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur said. The local train services on the Central Railway route, which were badly hit due to the heavy downpour on Sunday and Monday, were also running normal, a CR official said. There was no diversion of bus services of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) and the operations were smooth so far, its spokesperson said. Alerts by the IMD are colour-coded from green to red. A ‘green’ alert stands for ’no warning’: no action needs to be taken by the authorities, and the forecast is of light to moderate rain. A ‘red’ alert stands for “warning”, and asks authorities to “take action”. An orange alert indicates that the authorities are expected to be prepared.