IMD Forecasts Heavy Rain as Bay of Bengal System Nears Coast

The India Meteorological Department forecast heavy rain across several parts of India as a Bay of Bengal weather system moved toward the coast, issuing a red alert for Odisha for September 23 and district-level warnings in Maharashtra and Kerala. The forecasts describe expected conditions; the system’s eventual strength and the rainfall that follows have not been established in the reports. In Odisha, the IMD warned of extremely heavy rainfall exceeding 20 cm in some districts, including Puri, Ganjam, Gajapati and Kandhamal. The department attributed the threat to a developing system over the Bay of Bengal. A separate IMD bulletin described the system as a well-marked low-pressure area and forecast that it could intensify into a depression, then a deep depression, before reaching the vicinity of the north Andhra Pradesh-south Odisha coast by the morning of September 23. Maharashtra was also forecast to receive rain, with a yellow alert covering several districts. The IMD forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall in Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Ratnagiri, as well as Nashik and parts of Vidarbha, including Nagpur, Yavatmal, Wardha, Gondia, Gadchiroli, Chandrapur and Bhandara.