AFTER HEAVY rainfall on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, the city witnessed moderate showers on Thursday. The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Colaba observatory recorded 11.6 mm of rainfall between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm on Thursday. On Wednesday, it had recorded 36.8 mm of rainfall. In comparison, IMD’s Santacruz observatory recorded 25.4 mm of rainfall during the same time period on Thursday while witnessing 29.2 mm of rainfall a day before. After a brief break, rainfall is likely to pick up pace from Friday and continue till July 28 in Mumbai and surrounding areas. “For the next four to five days, moderate to heavy rainfall has been forecast,” said Bishwambar Singh, Director, regional meteorological centre, IMD, Mumbai. “An upper cyclonic circulation over Arabian Sea covering Goa to Saurashtra in Gujarat was present. Thus, heavy rain forecast has been given to seven coastal areas, including Palghar, Thane and Mumbai,” he added. Since July 1, the Santacruz observatory has recorded 1,584.5 mm of rainfall till July 25. Colaba recorded 1292.9 mm during the same period. At 173.66 mm, overnight rainfall on the intervening night between Tuesday and Wednesday resulted in the season’s highest 24-hour rainfall for the island city. In the 12-hour period from 11.30 pm on Tuesday to 5.30 am on Wednesday, 171 mm of rainfall was recorded. Meanwhile, Tansa lake, which provides 400 million litres of potable water to the city daily started to overflow at 2.50 pm on Thursday. This was the second of the seven lakes, which provide water to the city, to overflow. Tulsi lake had started overflowing on July 12. With this, the current water stock in the seven lakes has risen to 57.86 per cent of the storage capacity. Modak Sagar, Tansa, Middle Vaitarna, Bhatsa, Vihar and Tulsi lakes received over 100 mm of rainfall till 6.30 am on Thursday. The city recorded air quality index (AQI) of 23, which falls into the “good” category. Mumbai’s AQI was 16 on Wednesday, its second cleanest air day since June 2015. Navi Mumbai also recorded good air quality with AQI 11.
