Heavy rains likely to cause flash floods in Mumbai and along west coast, says Met

The IMD has forecast heavy rains in the coastal belt across the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala with chances of a rise in water levels in various west-flowing rivers like Tapi and Tadri, Godavari and its tributaries, Krishna and its tributaries, Cauvery and its tributaries as well as the west flowing rivers between Tadri and Kanyakumari.

Rainfall forecast issued by India Meteorological Department on Wednesday indicate that heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely at a few places with extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places over Konkan and Goa, Madhya Maharashtra during 7 to 12 June.

Heavy to very heavy rainfall is also likely to occur over coastal Karnataka today and throughout Karnataka between 9 and 11 June.

Heavy to very heavy rainfall is also likely to occur at isolated places over Kerala during 9 to 10 June, according to the weather office.        

Rivers having their source in the Western Ghats and flowing into the Arabian Sea may witness flash floods as per the rainfall forecast. Since most of the rivers are dry, necessary precautions to control human activities along the river bed may be taken as their flow may increase suddenly.

Due to the expected rainfall, river Damanganga and its tributaries are expected to rise in Nasik district of Maharashtra, Valsad district of Gujarat and Daman district in Daman and Diu Union Territory. Since most of even the rivers are dry, necessary precautions to control human activities along the river bed the, Met said.

River Godavari is likely to rise in upstream reaches in Nasik, Ahmednagar and Aurangabad districts. Since almost all the dams are at very low levels, this rainfall may cause inflows into various upstream reservoirs. River Krishna and its tributaries are likely to rise in upstream districts of Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Pune, Sholapur in Maharashtra as well as in Bagalkote, Vijayapura and Kalaburagi districts on Krishna and in Chikmagaluru, Shivamogga and Bellari districts on river Tungabhadra in Karnataka. Since almost all the dams are in very low level areas, this rainfall may cause inflows into various upstream reservoirs.

Rivers flowing west into Arabian Sea south of Tapi in Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka are also likely to rise and inundate areas in Raigad, Thane, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts of Maharashtra and in Uttara Kannada, Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts in Karnataka. Traffic along the old road and rail bridges in Konkan Railway along these river reaches are also likely to be affected, it said.

River Cauvery and its tributaries in upstream reaches in Kodagu, Chikmagaluru, Hassan and Mysuru districts of Karnataka and Wynad district of Kerala are likely to rise as per the rainfall forecast. However, as the dams in the basins have sufficient storage and hence the expected rainfall may give some inflows into these reservoirs depending on the severity of the rainfall.