Rain intensity reduces in Mumbai, but IMD predicts heavy showers; water stock in 7 lakes now 68%

Mumbai: After heavy rains in Mumbai and its suburbs over the past few days, the intensity of rainfall reduced on Friday with the city witnessing only occasional spells of moderate to heavy showers till noon.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has, however, predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in the city during the day, officials said.

Incessant rains over the past few days raised the aggregate water stock in seven lakes providing potable water to Mumbai as it reached 68 per cent on Friday morning. Of these seven lakes, four have overflowed so far, they said.

As the intensity of rain reduced, no major water-logging was reported anywhere in the metropolis, the officials said.

Some commuters complained that traffic on the Eastern as well as Western expressways was moving slow, but there was no issue on the Eastern Freeway connecting Chembur to south Mumbai.

The city traffic police said there was congestion on the Sion-Panvel highway in the morning after a chemical tanker overturned at Uran Phata in Navi Mumbai.

"There was no major waterlogging anywhere in the city as the intensity of rain reduced in the morning. Most parts of the city have been witnessing mostly light rain with occasional spells of heavy rain," a civic official said.

The IMD has issued a yellow alert, predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall in the city and suburbs with the possibility of extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places, he added.

There could be occasional gusty winds reaching 40-50 kmph as per the weather bureau's prediction, the official said.

The island city, its eastern suburbs and western suburbs received average rainfall of 100.82 mm, 94.79 mm and 129.12 mm, respectively, in the 24 hours ending 8 am, officials said.

According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), there was a 3.46 metre high tide in the Arabian Sea at 8.08 am and the next high tide is at 3.20 pm.

On Thursday, heavy rains lashed the city, especially its northern parts, causing water-logging at many places which badly affected the movement of vehicles.

The BMC had declared a holiday for all schools and colleges on Thursday. However, all government and private schools as well as all colleges are open on Friday.

The civic body said it did not announce a holiday for schools and colleges in the city for Friday as there was just a 'yellow' alert of rainfall.

A fake letter announcing a holiday for schools and colleges on July 28 was going viral on social media, the BMC said, and appealed to people not to believe it.

Due to heavy rains, water-logging was witnessed on Thursday in Matunga, DN Nagar, Byculla, Trombay, Azad Maidan, Kandivali, Kalbadevi, Oshiwara, Dahisar, Magathane on Thursday, with water being almost half-feet in most of these areas.

The Modak Sagar lake built on the Vaitarna river in neighbouring Thane district started overflowing at 10.52 pm on Thursday night, a civic official said.

This is the fourth lake, after Vihar, Tansa and Tulsi, to overflow this monsoon season.

Mumbai receives 3,800 MLD (millions of litres per day) water from the seven reservoirs - Bhatsa, Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna, Tansa, Modak Sagar, Vihar and Tulsi - located in Mumbai, Thane and Nashik districts.