While Mumbai received some respite from the rains on Friday, the Konkan region and other parts of western Maharashtra continued to be battered by heavy downpour.
Raigad, Palghar and Ratnagiri districts witnessed intense showers as did Pune district.
Robust rains in the last 48 hours have caused the water level in dams in Pune district and Mumbai city to rise drastically.
While the delayed monsoon had increased apprehensions of probable water rationing in parts of Pune, continuous rainfall in the catchment areas saw water-levels shoot up by nearly one TMCft (one thousand million cubic feet of water) to reach 5.45 TMC in the last 24 hours.
The cumulative water level in the four principal dams of Pune district - Khadakwasla, Panshet, Varasgaon and Temghar – sited upstream of the Mutha river had plummeted to 2.5 TMC in the last week, causing a major water deficit.
This had prompted the State Water Resources department to urge the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to regulate the water supply, following which the PMC began an alternate water supply to the city.
However, owing to incessant rains, the storage level in the four dams has shot up to a healthy 5.45 TMCft. In the last 24 hours, the catchment area of Varasgaon registered 55 mm rain, Panshet had 60 mm, Temghar had 81 mm and Khadakwasla had 13 mm of rainfall.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has already issued a ‘red alert’ for Pune, Satara, and Kolhapur districts (indicating heavy to extremely heavy rainfall) till July 10.
As of Friday, the Panchganga river level in Kolhapur was just four feet short of the ‘danger mark’. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed 17 teams in areas of Maharashtra that have reported heavy to very heavy rainfall. Twenty seven barrages are already under water in the district, said authorities.
The IMD today also said that thunderstorm with lightning was very likely at isolated places in the Vidarbha region including Akola, Amravati, Bhandara, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli,Yavatmal and Nagpur among others.
It said that light to moderate rainfall was very likely at many places in Yavatmaland at isolated places across Akola, Amravati, Bhandara, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Nagpur and Washim districts of Vidarbha.
