"An orange alert has been issued for Friday and Saturday for areas that are likely to witness heavy showers and citizens and authorities in these places will have to stay vigilant," said IMD official to the news agency PTI. The weather department had issued the alert for Mumbai and adjoining coastal districts for two days.
The alert comes on the back of Mumbai Police on Wednesday imposing Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in the city prohibiting any presence or movement of one or more persons in public places or gathering of any sort anywhere, including religious places to contain the spread of virus. It restricts movement of people between 9 pm to 5 am except essential services. The order will be carried out in the areas under the control of commissioner of police, Greater Mumbai. After Thane, Navi Mumbai has announced to follow a 10-day lockdown, from Friday. The municipal corporations of Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivili, Mira-Bhayandar, Ulhansnagar, Panvel and Bhiwandi will remain under complete lockdown, according to the report.
What does the Orange Alert signify?
As per the IMD's calculations, a rainfall between 64.5 mm and 115.5 mm in 24 hours is considered as heavy rainfall, while a downpour between 115.5 and 204.5 mm is very heavy rainfall. Rainfall above 204.5 mm in 24 hours is categorised as extremely heavy rainfall.
The alert is important as it signifies that authorities should be prepared to handle any situation arising out of severe weather conditions.
The IMD has also advised people in Mumbai and the adjoining areas to restrict their movement besides warning of major disruption in the flow of traffic for at least two days. The weather department also warned that older buildings are at risk of collapse.
Ratnagiri district, which bore the brunt of cyclonic storm Nisarga in June, is likely to receive extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places on Friday, while Raigad will receive similar downpour on Saturday, the Met department had forecasted.
What are the measures to be taken?
Meanwhile, Mumbai Police had asked the citizens of Mumbai and the adjoining coastal areas to remain indoors in view of the heavy to very heavy rainfall prediction in the city.
In order to ensure the safety of the residents, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) also tweeted about dos and dont's during this monsoon.
Ratnagiri district, which bore the brunt of cyclonic storm Nisarga in June, is likely to receive extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places on Friday, while Raigad will receive similar downpour on Saturday, the Met department had forecasted.
The worst state Maharashtra has crossed a million mark in testing with 10,20,368 Covid-19 tests conducted until Thursday. It crossed the one lakh mark in recording recoveries too. Till Thursday, 1,01,172 lakh people had been treated and discharged.