Rain Relief For Mumbai, Indian Meteorological Department Downgrades 'Red' Alert To 'Orange'

After heavy showers in the city and its adjoining areas since Monday, the rain intensity started subsiding on Thursday afternoon. The financial capital and its neighboring towns witnessed cloudy skies throughout Friday with sporadic rains.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) downgraded the rainfall alert for Mumbai to "orange" for the day from "red" issued on Thursday.

The Met department had also said there was a possibility of occasional strong winds reaching 40-50 kph, civic officials said.
The IMD's Mumbai center, however, did not give any explanation for scaling down the red alert status.

A red alert indicates the possibility of heavy to extremely heavy rains of over 20 km in 24 hours. An orange alert shows the likelihood of heavy to very heavy rain in a few places, while heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rains at isolated places.

Due to the red alert, five teams of the NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) were deployed in the metropolis and the civic body was also geared up to face any eventuality.

In the "district forecast and warning for next 5 days" released around 1 am, the IMD issued an orange alert for Mumbai and its adjoining Thane and Palghar districts but kept a red alert unchanged for Raigad, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg in the coastal Konkan region.

In the 24-hour period ending 8 am on Friday, the island city (south Mumbai), its eastern suburbs, and western suburbs recorded an average rainfall of 28.08 mm, 32.64 mm, and 51.96 mm, respectively, a civic official said.

Buses of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) and suburban train services, considered the lifeline of Mumbai, ?operated normally as there was no water-logging anywhere, he said.

However, some suburban trains are slightly behind schedule, he said.