According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) data, parts of Pune city recorded 70 mm of rain in 24 hours on Thursday, the highest so far this season.
Pune district will remain on an ‘Orange’ alert on Friday, while heavy rains continued in Maharashtra for the fourth consecutive day, flooding hill stations and plains.
The IMD said on Thursday that Southwest Monsoon will remain active over West, Central and Peninsular India till July 18.
“But the intensity of rain will reduce over most parts of Maharashtra from Friday,” IMD officials said.
On Thursday also, the intensity of rain reduced with light rain in Pune city. Places in the city recorded 12 hours of rain till 8.30 pm – Chinchwad (37 mm), Lohegaon (11.6 mm), Lavale (15 mm), Shivajinagar (10.4 mm) and Magarpatta (5 mm).
Earlier in the day, several areas of Maharashtra were among the highest rainfall regions of the country, including Shirgaon 312 mm, Vaitarna Dam 252 mm, Tamhini 235 mm, Lonavala 218 mm, Mahabaleshwar 150 mm, Koyna 142 mm, Matheran 130 mm. , and Mumbai – Santacruz and Dahanu (70 mm each), during the last 24 hours.
Several weather systems exist in favor of widespread rain in different parts of the country. The Favorable Weather System lies over South Coastal Odisha, an east-west shear area and an active Monsoon Trough lying south of its normal position. Maharashtra is also under the influence of strong westerly winds blowing from the Arabian Sea.
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The Meteorological Department has advised people not to venture out especially in low-lying areas, river banks and ghat areas of Pune, Satara, Nashik and Kolhapur.
Since June 1, Maharashtra has recorded 503.2 mm of rain, which was 44 per cent surplus till July 14. All the weather sub-divisions of the state have received either ‘excess’ or ‘very high’ category.
Barring Sangli (- 35%), all the districts have recorded normal or above rainfall so far this season.