Mumbai: If you thought it has been raining heavily for the past few days, it rained harder on Monday. The suburbs recorded rainfall of 50.8 mm in a span of nine hours between 8.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m., while rainfall recorded by the IMD Colaba observatory was 19.8mm during the same period.
The increase in rainfall activity, according to Shubhangi Bhute, scientist at IMD Mumbai, was due to an offshore trough ranging from North Madhya Pradesh and extending up to the North Kerala coast. There is also a low pressure area over Bay of Bengal adjacent to Andhra Pradesh which is causing heavy rains over the entire Konkan Belt including Mumbai. “The rainfall activity over the city is likely to subside after July 20,” Ms. Bhute said.
The IMD said the southwest monsoon remained vigorous over the North Konkan region and was likely to lead to heavy to very heavy rains over the region. Weathermen said temperatures were expected to settle below the normal levels. So far, Mumbai has recorded a good 417 mm of rain against its monthly average of 799.7 mm.
“While reaching its monthly target seemed like a daunting task a few days ago, with more showers expected over the region in the next two weeks, Mumbai might just end up surpassing its monthly mean,” a statement from private weather forecaster Skymet said.
Under the weather department’s classification, 15.6mm to 64.4mm of rain is considered moderate, 64.5mm to 115.5mm is heavy, 115.6mm to 204.4mm is very heavy and more than 204.5mm is extreme.
The Konkan coast, including Mumbai and Pune, recorded heavy overnight rain, said weather department officials. “The north Konkan coast witnessed widespread overnight showers, with 76% to 100% stations recording heavy rain. We expect this continue through the week,” said K.S. Hosalikar, Deputy Director General, Western Region, IMD.
On Wednesday evening, the Mumbai Police control room confirmed water logging on Linking Road, S.V. Road and V.M. Road. People took to Twitter to discuss the delays on the roads. “My sister was on the road from 6.30 p.m. to 10.10 p.m. between Borivali and Dadar West,” Cassandra Nazareth said.
Officials at Ridlr, which provides real-time traffic alerts on social media, said, “Users reported that it took three-and-a-half hours to reach Goregaon from Worli.” For Tuesday, the IMD warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall likely to occur at isolated places over districts of Konkan namely Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg.