Mumbai surpasses threshold of 3000 mm this monsoon, more showers likely amid red alert

Meanwhile, the Santacruz observatory recorded 83.8 mm of rain during this period. Between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm on Sunday, Colaba observatory recorded 93.2 mm of rain, followed by 54.7 mm at Santacruz.

“The ongoing rain is the result of a low pressure developed over the Bay of Bengal. As a result, Mumbai along with several parts of Maharashtra will continue to see heavy to very heavy rain throughout the day,” an official told the Indian Express. The IMD data also shows that the overall rain recorded at the Santacruz observatory during the monsoon calender between June 1 and September 28 stood at 3077 mm on Sunday evening. This is 772.6 mm more than the seasonal average.

The total rainfall recorded at Colaba in this monsoon season stood at 2,237 mm on Sunday evening, which was also 155 mm above the normal seasonal average.

While rains picked up from late night, it gradually slowed down during the morning. Later it picked up pace in the afternoon.

The BMC’s automatic weather systems (AWS) showed that Mumbai recorded an intense spell of average rain of 45 mm between 12 pm and 1 pm on Sunday. During this period, the western suburbs recorded the highest 53.6 mm of rain, followed by 47.47 mm at the island city and 37.92 mm at the eastern suburbs.

Further, the AWS also showed that several pockets in the island city as well as eastern and western suburbs have recorded rain above 100 mm on Sunday. Between 8 am and 5 pm, Colaba recorded 103 mm of rain, followed by 102.4 mm recorded at Dindoshi, and 100 mm at Malad (Chincholi).

Besides these areas, Mulund in the eastern suburbs also recorded 121 mm of rain till 8 am on Sunday, followed by 114 mm at Borivali, 110 mm at Dahisar, 109 mm at Colaba and 95 mm at Byculla. Overall, Mumbai’s western suburbs have recorded an average of 81.42 mm of rain, followed by 71.98 mm at the island city and 70.44 mm at the eastern suburbs during the morning.

Slew of disasters, traffic affected

Meanwhile, a slew of disasters was also reported. According to BMC’s disaster cell, as many as eight incidents of tree collapses have been reported followed by five house collapses till Sunday morning. Besides this, 11 cases of short-circuits have also been recorded in Mumbai in a day. No injuries were reported in any of these incidents.

The rains had also affected traffic movement as snarls were reported at both the Western and Eastern Express Highways on Sunday morning. The civic authorities have also shut down the Andheri subway after it got inundated due to waterlogging.

The civic authorities maintained that the dewatering pumps installed at Gandhi Market, and Chunabhatti have been made operational at full capacity and so far, no waterlogging has been recorded in these areas. However, traffic movement has been slow.

Pumping stations and dewatering pumps activated

Even though Mumbai has been kept under a red alert during the day, the city didn’t record intense waterlogging and flash flooding like the August rains when the city received more than 900 mm of rain within a three-day period. On Sunday morning, the Andheri subway was shut down for two hours. However, normal vehicle movement resumed after 10 am. Besides this the Khar, Malad and Milan subways in western suburbs also remained operational. The Gandhi Market and Hindmata Junction also didn’t record intense waterlogging.

“The alerts for the Sunday rain came well in advance. We had placed additional dewatering pumps in low lying areas like Chunabhatti which saw intense waterlogging last time,” said a BMC official.