The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a weather alert for several districts in Maharashtra for Thursday. In its latest bulletin, the weather department issued an Orange alert for Ratnagiri and a Yellow alert for Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Palghar for September 28. Moderate to heavy rainfall is expected in these districts for the next five days, the IMD stated.
Last week, Nagpur received extremely heavy rains leading to floods in most parts and water gushing into at least 10,000 homes. According to the IMD, the city had received 109 millimetres of rain in three hours, including 90 mm between 2 am and 4 am on September 23. The Ambazari Lake, the city's largest such waterbody, and the Nag river breached their boundaries, leading to severe flooding.
Southwest monsoon has also started to retreat
The weather department also stated that the southwest monsoon has also started to retreat from northwest India around September 25. Normally, the southwest monsoon makes its onset over Kerala by June 1 and covers the entire country by July 8. It starts retreating from northwest India around September 17, withdrawing entirely by October 15. The late retreat of the monsoon this year is the 13th consecutive delayed withdrawal.
Rain during this monsoon season
It should be mentioned here that India has received 780.3 mm of rain during this monsoon season so far, compared to a normal of 832.4 mm. Rainfall between 94 per cent and 106 per cent of the long-period average (LPA) is considered normal. Normally, the country receives an average of 870 mm of precipitation during the four-month monsoon season (June to September).
(With inputs from PTI)
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