Heavy rainfall lashed Pune, Maharashtra, late Sunday night. Several video shared on social media showed ‘crackling lightning’. Many social media users also feared if residents would face flood situation Monday morning.
Pune weather: IMD forecast
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued red alert in Pune around 4 am on Monday. The forecast is valid till 7 am.
Red alert was also issued Solapur and Ahmednagar. Meanwhile, an orange alert was issued in Thane and Raigad. Several other regions of Maharashtra, including Nashik, Palghar, Jalana and Nagpur are on yellow alert.
In Mumbai, the IMD issued a yellow alert, predicting: “Thunderstorm accompanied with lightning, heavy rainfall and gusty winds (30-40 kmph) at isolated places.”
On Sunday (Sept 14), the IMD had predicted “heavy to very heavy rainfall” over northeastern states and Maharashtra for the next the next days. The Met department has also sounded a yellow alert till September 18 for isolated parts across Konkan and Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha.
“Light to moderate rain/thunderstorm at many/some places with isolated heavy rainfall likely over Konkan & Goa, Madhya Maharashtra & Marathawada on 16th September with very heavy falls over Konkan & Goa Madhya, Maharashtra & Marathawada 14th & 15th September,” the IMD forecast read.
Meanwhile, the Times of India reported that three out of four dams that provide water to the Pune areas received rainfall. The catchment areas of Varasgaon recorded 21mm, while Panshet (20mm) and Temghar (3mm) received shower. At present, the total storage of the dams is 29.09 TMC, 997.9% compared to their total capacity.
Videos of ‘crackling lightning’ emerge
As heavy rainfall lashed parts of Pune late Sunday night, netizens flooded the social media with videos showing the lightning which they described as “crackling” and “horrific.”
“Captured This crazy and Horrible Lightning Happening in Hadapdar, Pune. Witnessing one of the heaviest rains of the season without any Alerts…,” one user posted on X.
Sharing another video, one user wrote, “See the level of thunderstorm and lightning ⚡️ in #pune #PuneRains.” One even wondered, “There’s a cloud burst or something in Pune???? People are going to wake up to a flood.”
Another user asked, “Are these sonic booms or lightning?? They don’t sound natural to me at all.”
One user also claimed, “In line with imd forecast, heavy rain drenching most of pune city at 12:13am #punerains Video from sus pune.”
After a night of heavy rainfall, a user took to X to share scenes from his society’s parking lot – wherein a car could be seen submered under water.
