Mumbai woke as much as inundated, waterlogged streets on Monday morning after the season’s first spell of extraordinarily heavy rain battered town within the late hours of Sunday with a number of pockets recording 300 mm of rainfall in six hours. Making it the heaviest bathe prior to now 5 years (since 2019) in Mumbai, the India Meteorological Division (IMD)’s Santacruz observatory recorded 268 mm of rainfall prior to now 24 hours.
Knowledge furnished by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Company (BMC) confirmed that the heaviest downpour was recorded within the japanese suburbs of Mumbai with its Automated Climate System (AWS) recording 315.6 mm of rainfall in Vikhroli between 1 am to 7 am, adopted by Powai the place 314.5 mm of rainfall was recorded, Andheri East (292 mm), Chakala, (272 mm) and Aarey (259 mm).
In line with the IMD’s observatories, the Santacruz recording station registered 268 mm of rainfall even because the Colaba centre registered solely 84 mm of rainfall prior to now 24 hours. That is the very best 24-hour interval rainfall recorded within the metropolis since 2019 when the Santacruz station recorded 375.2 mm of rain inside 24 hours on July 2.
Whereas the climate bureau issued a nowcast warning at 12.30 am on Monday for Mumbai, Thane and Raigad districts, meteorologists stated the depth of showers picked up tempo solely after 2.30 am. Sushma Nair, Scientist, IMD Mumbai stated, “Whereas the Santacruz station had registered 40.9 mm rain till 2.30 am, 210.9 mm rain was recorded between 2.30 am and 4 am”.
Attributing the downpour to an offshore trough, Nair added, “There was an offshore trough alongside north Gujarat and Kerala coast, which strengthened alongside North Konkan round midnight, ensuing within the heavy rains”.
In line with the climate bureau, town is more likely to witness heavy rainfall in remoted pockets over the following 24 hours.
The outburst of extraordinarily heavy rain inside a brief interval took a toll on town’s infrastructure with a number of pockets experiencing water logging on Monday morning. Many suburban localities in Juhu, Sion, Kurla, and Andheri amongst others have been inundated with water-logged streets, forcing residents to wade by knee-deep waters in some localities. Owing to the showers, the Andheri subway was shut for visitors within the late hours, with the visitors resuming round 10.30 am on Monday, after the overflowing water was pumped out and barricades shifted.
Amidst visitors snarls and choked streets, the civic physique diverted the routes of practically 10 BEST bus providers. Indian Railways providers on the Central and Harbour strains have been additionally disrupted affecting commuters heading to their workplaces.
In the meantime, in keeping with the civic physique, 39 incidents of tree and department collapse incidents have been reported till Monday morning, of which 19 have been from the western suburbs, 12 from the island metropolis, and eight from the japanese suburbs.
Taking cognisance of the IMD forecast for continued downpours and excessive tides later within the day, the civic physique declared a vacation in all BMC, authorities, and privately run faculties and faculties within the metropolis.
On Sunday afternoon, the IMD sounded a ‘yellow’ alert within the metropolis stating the probability of ‘heavy rainfall in remoted pockets’ till Monday. Nevertheless, the climate bureau has drawn the flak of residents for failing to flag the depth of showers upfront.