Over 100 mm: Heavy rain lashes Mumbai

Of this, only 27 mm was recorded between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm — and 88 mm between 5.30 pm and 8.30 pm at IMD’s Santa Cruz observatory. The IMD’s coastal observatory at Colaba recorded 42 mm of rain. “The rain intensified during the evening and within a span of three hours over 80 mm of intense spell of rain was recorded,” said Sushma Nair, scientist, IMD.

Mumbai soaked in torrential downpour as heavy rain lashes the city. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

“The monsoon progressed up to Alibaug on Saturday and within the next 48 hours, we are expecting it to arrive in Mumbai, considering which a ‘yellow’ alert was issued on June 26 and 27. In 2019, the monsoon onset happened on June 25. If the monsoon arrived in Mumbai on June 26, this would have been the most delayed one since 2001,” Nair told The Indian Express.

Weather experts attributed Saturday’s downpour to westerlies and active monsoon conditions.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s rainfall monitoring systems recorded 73 mm of rain in the western suburbs, 71 mm in the island city and 69 mm in the eastern suburbs. Dahisar in the western suburbs received 143 mm of rain, followed by 119 mm in Marol and Vikhroli, 115 mm in Didoshi and 103 mm in Borivali. Colaba and Sion areas in the island city recorded 98 mm and 94 mm of rain.

Several parts of the city were inundated by the heavy showers. Traffic movement in Andheri was stalled for two hours, after the Andheri Subway was shut because of water-logging. Notably, the BMC installed six de-watering pumps in the subway this year to prevent water-logging during rain.

In Gandhi Market, despite the heavy downpour, water didn’t accumulate for long. The civic body, through its official Twitter handle, posted a video, stating, “Rainwater is being channeled out smoothly from Gandhi Market and traffic is running smoothly.”

Meanwhile, a roadside tree fell in Mumbai’s upscale Malabar Hill locality, damaging 10 cars on Saturday morning. No injuries were reported in the incident on Walkeshwar Road, opposite Birla High School.

The monsoon progressed up to Alibaug on Saturday and within the next 48 hours, we are expecting it to arrive in Mumbai, considering that a ‘yellow’ alert was issued on June 26 and 27. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

According to meteorologists, the intensity of rainfall is slated to increase next week, warning of heavy spells of rain in Mumbai as well as its neighbouring districts on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The IMD also predicted a fall in temperatures over the next seven days. According to the weather body’s seven-day forecast, the temperatures are expected to dip by four degrees. On Saturday itself, following the pre-monsoon showers, mercury levels dropped with IMD’s Colaba observatory recording a temperature of 30.8 degrees Celsius, which is one degree below normal. IMD’s Santa Cruz observatory recorded 32.8 degrees Celsius.

While officially the monsoon was slated to reach Mumbai on June 11, it was delayed and the IMD predicted that it would arrive in Mumbai between June 23 and June 25. Speaking to The Indian Express, Raghu Murtugudde, Earth System Scientist and visiting professor at IIT Bombay, said that the prolonged delay in the onset of monsoon built over time and cannot solely be attributed to Cyclone Biparjoy.

“The monsoon winds — southwesterlies got pulled by Biparjoy on one hand and by Typhoon Guchol in the Pacific one the other hand. This destroyed the monsoon which remained deficit over large parts. Meanwhile, before Guchol and Biparjoy, there was Typhoon Mawar which delayed the trough from moving to India, which was stuck over Andaman and Nicobar because it couldn’t cross that highway of winds over the bay created by Mawar,” Murtugudde said.