Earlier on Tuesday, Mumbai and its suburbs received moderate to heavy rainfall during the day and the weather department has issued an orange alert for the city for Wednesday, July 19, predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall at some places, officials said.

The weather bureau has issued a red alert for neighbouring Raigad and Palghar districts predicting heavy to very rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rain at isolated places for Wednesday. An orange alert is sounded for Thane district.

As per the IMD (India Meteorological Department) classification, an orange alert is for a rainfall range between 115.6 mm to 204.4 mm in a day, while a red alert is issued when rainfall above 204.5 mm is expected for a 24-hour duration.

As the day progressed, the intensity of rain in Mumbai reduced on Tuesday. Most areas of the island city and also suburbs received light or moderate rainfall with intermittent spells of heavy rain.

Meanwhile, Mumbai’s monsoon season has brought about unusual weather patterns, resulting in a shift in the city’s dengue reporting trends. Between July 1 and 16, the city reported 264 dengue cases, compared to 353 cases in June. This is a noticeable increase when compared to last year’s figures of 39 cases in June and 61 cases in July.

It’s important to note that all of these dengue cases were reported on an outpatient basis, and no admissions were required. Dr Dakhsa Shah, head of BMC’s health department, stated, “We are closely monitoring the rising cases and taking appropriate action.” As part of dengue control activities, the department inspected 3,61,820 houses in the city between July 9 and 16.