Heavy rain and thunderstorms lash Mumbai; IMD says showers here to stay

After a long lull, heavy rain made a comeback in the city on Monday morning with the intensity gathering pace during the late hours. Data furnished by IMD showed that its Santacruz station recorded 75 mm of rainfall, and the Colaba coastal observatory recorded 16 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours ending at 8.30 am.

According to the BMC’s automatic weather station data, the heaviest rain was recorded in the eastern suburbs at an average of 55 mm, followed by the western suburbs (35.73 mm) and the island city division (31.10 mm). With nearly 100 mm of rainfall recorded over the past 24 hours, the Santacruz station registered 266 mm of rainfall in September, which had been reeling under a dry spell until the weekend, so far. Mumbai registers nearly 360 mm of rainfall on average in September.

In Thane and Palghar, a yellow alert has been issued until Thursday and the Raigad district has been placed under an orange warning between Tuesday and Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the stock in the seven lakes catering to Mumbai’s water needs soared to 98.28 per cent or 14.22 lakh million litres of the total capacity on Tuesday morning. Lakes which supply water to Mumbai get water during the four monsoon months, following which potable water is transported and supplied to the city throughout the year through a labyrinthine network of pipelines.

The official date of monsoon withdrawal in Mumbai is October 10.