Rough days ahead for Gujarat, Konkan-Goa coastal belt

A continuous drizzle drenched Mumbai streets throughout Sunday, with the local weather bureau reporting rainfall occurring in several places in the Konkan-Goa belt, Madhya Maharashtra and Gujarat regions.

The regional weather bureau, in the wake of possible inclement weather, has issued an alert to all road travellers and locals along the Gujarat-Maharashtra-Goa route, with specific information that winds will be extremely strong with gusts reaching 60 km per hour.

Fishermen have been told to keep away from the sea for the next 24 hours as waves due to southwesterly winds would be very rough, and public services and community project officials have been asked to be on alert as the weather might turn turbulent along the South Gujarat-Saurashtra-Konkan-Goa belt.

According to the meteorology department, there is a strong possibility of heavy rainfall on the western coastline as “the morning offshore trough extending from south Gujarat coast to Lakshdweep area persists... and southwest monsoon, ranging from strong to vigorous, is over west central Arabian Sea. It is strong over east central Arabian and moderate over southeast Arabian waters.”

For Mumbai, which recorded 9.4 mm (Colaba) and 6.2 mm (Santacruz) rainfall in the last 24 hours, the weather bureau has predicted spells of rain and showers in various parts of the city and suburbs; however, for regions like Thane district, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg, heavy rainfall has been forecast for the next 48 hours.

Rainfall trackers in the interiors revealed that while hilly regions like Mahabaleshwar, Matheran and other surrounding high-plateau received rain from 5cm to 13 cms, the Konkan region down south, despite witnessing battering rain, barely registered 3 cm, unlike Margao and Ponda in Goa, which saw 7 cm precipitation.