Heavy rain to continue over Maharashtra, milk supply to Mumbai affected today – Hindustan Times

A day after at least 61 people were killed in Maharashtra due to heavy rains, widespread showers accompanied by strong winds have been predicted for the region by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for Saturday.

Widespread rainfall has been forecast by IMD for Maharashtra, Marathwada, Vidharba and also for the Konkan coast and Goa for Saturday. Heavy rains will be driven by strong winds of speed 50-60kmph gusting to 70kmph, which have been forecast as very likely over the southwest and westcentral Arabian sea and along and off the Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa coasts, IMD said on Friday.

As Maharashtra continues to grapple with the heaviest downpour it has seen in the last 40 years, the meteorological department raised red alerts for several regions in the state, indicating that heavy rainfall will continue for the next few days. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government has roped in the Indian Army to assist the local administration in flood-affected areas.

The fairly widespread rainfall over the region with isolated heavy to very heavy falls are very likely to continue over the west coast for the next two to three days with a reduction thereafter, the IMD predicted on Friday. However, isolated extremely heavy falls are also very likely over Konkan, Goa and the adjoining ghat areas of central Maharashtra during July 23 and July 24 with reduction thereafter, the IMD said.

Also read: Over 60 killed as west India hit by heavy rain

Parts of Maharashtra like Satara have already been issued a red alert in the view of extremely heavy rainfall for the next 24 hours. The intense rainfall is expected to pound the hilly ghat areas of western Maharashtra.

Extremely heavy rainfall was likely to occur at isolated places in the ghat sections of the Satara district, the IMD said. Issuing an orange alert for Pune and Kolhapur, the IMD said “heavy to very heavy rainfall” is likely in isolated places in the ghat areas of the two districts.

National and state highways like Pune-Bengaluru, Goa-Mumbai and Kolhapur-Ratnagiri are shut for the past two days, as many roads and villages have submerged in floodwaters. On Friday, the Western Railway cancelled at least six trains for Saturday in the areas affected by the heavy rainfall and landslides.

The severe rainfall and flooding in the region have disrupted the collection and distribution of milk and the brand Gokul, owned by Kolhapur Zilla Sahakari Dudh Utpadak Sangh (KZSDUS), said there will be no supply of its milk pouches to Mumbai as Maharashtrian districts like Kolhapur, Sangli remained affected due to flooding.

“The milk collection was largely affected on Thursday and Friday due to downpour in western Maharashtra and Konkan. Against the daily collection of 13 lakh litres, we could collect about 2.5 lakh litres on Friday,” KZSDUS chairperson Vishwas Patil told PTI.

Also read: Heavy rain floods Karnataka; red alert in 7 districts, ICG swings into action

Patil said flooding in parts of the state has not only affected the collection of the milk, but even its transportation has come to the halt due to the closure of state and national highways, Kolhapur Zilla Sahakari Dudh Utpadak Sangh said in a statement. “Many highways heading to Mumbai are shut as the heavy rainfall continued on Friday as well. As a result of this, we will not be able to supply milk pouches to our Mumbai consumers on Saturday.”

The supply to the Mumbai market, Patil said, will resume as soon as possible.