Mumbai: Brace for more rain today and tomorrow

The weather forecasters have predicted moderate to heavy rainfall on Wednesday as the IMD has upped the alert for Mumbai to lsquoOrangersquoMeteorologists have also predicted that Mumbai will continue to receive heavy rainfall around midweek The rain will finally start to recede from September 16There was a lsquoYellowrsquo warning for the city on Tuesday The cityrsquos base observatory Santacruz that represents the suburbs reported 934 mm of rainfall in 24 hours ending at 830 am on Tuesday The Colaba observatory recorded 592 mm of rainfall during the same periodAutos ply on a waterlogged road at BKC on Tuesday PicShadab KhanFor September 14 the India Meteorological Department had issued a lsquoYellowrsquo notice for Mumbai and Thane while Palghar and neighbouring Raigad were on lsquoOrangersquo alert For September 15 the IMD has issued an lsquoOrangersquo alert for all four regionsThis seasonfrom June 1 to September 10IMD Colaba and Santacruz observatories have recorded a rainfall of 18625 mm and 24012 mm respectivelyAlso Read Mumbai Two months on Kalina campusrsquos new buildings lie emptyModerate rainldquoFor the next couple of days the city and its suburbs will witness moderate rainfall with the possibility of a heavy downpour at isolated places The maximum temperature that went up to 3130 degrees Celsius is likely to drop to 28 degrees Celsius in the next 24 to 48 hoursrdquo said an IMD officialldquoThis week will be wet The rain activity will peak on Thursday Accumulated rainfall of the week could touch or cross 180 mmrdquo said Rajesh Kapadia of Vagaries of the Weather a popular weather blogldquoThese rains are attributed to the circulation off the Konkan coast and the depression that has moved towards Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and is inching closer to Maharashtra The line joining these two systems is also running close to MumbaiRainfall is only expected to increase around Thursday when heavy showers may be seen in some parts of the city Rains will start to recede from September 16 and remain so for the next seven daysrdquo said a meteorologist from Skymet weather a private forecasting agencyBhatsa the largest lake is almost fullThanks to the recent downpour Bhatsa lake is almost at its capacity There are seven lakes with a combined capacity of 1447 lakh million litres of water Bhatsa lake accounts for 50 per cent of the total capacity at 717 lakh million litres It is the fifth lake thatrsquos filled up Middle Vaitarna and Upper Vaitarna dams are over 96 per cent full As on Tuesday all seven lakes have 1437 lakh million litres of water which is 9932 per cent of the total capacity If all the lakes are full on September 30 the city will receive uninterrupted supply until July 2023