Several areas get flooded as heavy rain sweeps Mumbai

Data furnished by the IMD showed the Santacruz observatory recorded 116mm rain between Thursday and Friday morning, while the Colaba coastal observatory received 86mm rain.

Meanwhile, according to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) automatic weather station, the island city division received an average of 93.16mm rain, followed by 78.93mm rain in the western suburbs and the eastern suburbs, which received 66.03mm rainfall.

The intensity of showers subdued later in the day as the island city division recorded 9.6mm rain between 8.30am and 5.30pm on Friday while the suburbs received 7.7mm.

The downpour led to waterlogging in several low-lying pockets such as Gandhi Market area, Hindmata as well as Santacruz’s Milan subway, leading the BMC to deploy its pumping stations to clear the accumulated water. Meanwhile, the Andheri subway was also shut for vehicular movement early on Friday due to to waterlogging.

For Saturday, which coincides with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Mumbai, the weather bureau has issued an orange alert indicating the likelihood of heavy to very heavy rainfall in Mumbai. Furthermore, an orange alert has been issued in Thane and Raigad between Friday and Saturday.

Sunil Kamble, director of IMD Mumbai, said, “Currently, the city is receiving very good showers owing to the presence of an offshore trough as well as a cyclonic circulation which is over central India. Besides, July is the main monsoon month when the city should receive nearly 800mm to 900mm rain and as such, during July, southwesterly winds are also very active. All of these factors are bringing rain to the region.”

In light of the showers, Mumbai has also covered its earlier rain deficit and has now registered a surplus, added Kamble.

According to the latest IMD data, the Mumbai suburban region has registered a surplus of 6 per cent from its overall average for monsoons. While the Mumbai city division is still reeling under a negative departure of 15 per cent from its actual average, the IMD categorises it as ‘normal’.

Since the onset of monsoons in the city, Mumbai’s Santacruz station has received 1028mm rain, while Colaba recorded 1,013mm. Of this, the city had received 347mm rain in June, which was a shortfall of 35 per cent from its actual June average of 537mm.

Meanwhile, amid heavy rain, the stock in the seven lakes supplying water to Mumbai touched 22.80 per cent of the total capacity, which is 3.29 lakh million litres, on Friday morning. In 2023, during the same period, the lake levels stood at 27.65 per cent while in 2022, the water stock remained at 50.32 per cent.