A s per prediction by India Meteorological Department, Nashik region will receive about 300mm of rain on account of formation of cloudburst. It will be due to the depression in the Arabian Sea. This rain shower will affect mainly Trimbakeshwar and the hills in its vicinity on Tuesday, July 7. As a precautionary measure, the authorities of Nashik district have decided to close the Trimbakeshwar temple on Tuesday. The similar directive has been issued in connection with Saptashrungi temple.
Apart from this alert to Nashik, Fadnavis warned about high-velocity winds, which are expected to reach the speed of nearly 90 km/h in the Mumbai area and its vicinity. While the IMD had issued an Orange Alert for the city in the first place, it has now upgraded the same to Red Alert after the situation became worse. There is a high tide expected around 3 pm on Tuesday, along with strong winds, which might result in the falling down of trees in Mumbai.
The chief minister made an appeal to citizens to remain indoors and not travel except when it is extremely essential, asking them in particular to not visit waterfalls and trekking areas during this time. He also requested the private firms to permit their workers to telecommute from home due to basic humanitarian concern for the safety of the workers and stated that strict action would be taken against those not complying with this request.
Apart from Nashik and Mumbai, there are many other regions in Maharashtra which have been experiencing the impact of continuous rains for several days now.
The huge landslide that happened near Kashedi Ghat on the Mumbai-Goa Highway, along with seven other landslides caused by unprecedented rains, caused disruption to traffic as the debris removal operation was going on as high priority.
Also, the Mumbai-Pune Expressway saw an incident that Fadnavis called unprecedented, wherein almost 100 tonnes of debris fell at a place where no such incidents ever took place before.
About 70 tonnes of this debris had been removed successfully to open up three lanes towards Pune while the work was being done to restore it on the other side that connects to Mumbai. Some portions of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Expressway were also closed due to water accumulation at construction sites.
Heavy rain in the Western Ghats and Raigad district has led to many major rivers, like Savitri, overflowing from the danger level. De-silting helped prevent the floodwater from entering into nearby towns despite landslides causing disruption in road traffic in the region.
Extremely heavy rain is forecasted in Raigad, coastal Maharashtra, and the hill stations of Lonavala and Mahabaleshwar in the coming hours, while the authorities will also be monitoring the river level in Satara and Kolhapur.
According to Fadnavis, the high alert status of the state will continue until July 8, as all kinds of measures have been taken for dealing with any emergency situation because of the cloudburst in Nashik city and district, along with rural areas. In the Palghar district, which has received heavy showers for the past four to five days, a high tide is expected to come by the end of the day, which may lead to waterlogging if it rains again. The state government has also made an announcement about closing schools and colleges in various districts, including Mumbai.
This warning came on the heels of a recent incident in Mankhurd, in which a structure collapsed in a slum and six people lost their lives due to the incident.
