Mumbai standing after season’s heaviest rain

MUMBAI: The downpour continued on Monday, claiming one life in the city and marking a wet and difficult start to the working week. Complaints of water-logging, delayed train services, and traffic hit by potholes were rife but Mumbai was on its feet with water receding faster than usual and its lifeline—the suburban train services— running on all four routes, albeit with delays.

The IMD Colaba observatory recorded 170mm rainfall in the 24-hour span from July 8 (8.30am) to July 9 (8.30am), the highest for this monsoon. Santacruz recorded 122mm rain in the same period, which makes it very heavy rainfall at both stations. On Monday, Colaba and Santacruz recorded another 110.2mm and 78.7mm rain till 8.30pm. In all, the city (Santacruz) has received over 50% of its annual required rainfall in barely a month since the onset of monsoon on June 9. The total rain received for July is 645mm, against the average of 840mm required for the month. This shows 77% of the average July rain has already been received. This at a time when total rainfall for July across the country is 16% below average .



The continuous downpour has also brought down maximum temperatures. On Monday, Colaba recorded 25.2C and Santacruz 26.4C respectively. The Santacruz temperature is the second lowest for July since 2011. Minimum on Monday at 8.30am was 22.2C, lowest in last five years.

IMD’s forecast for the week is the same, with heavy to very heavy rains predicted at isolated places till Friday. Ajay Kumar from IMD Mumbai said the reason was cyclonic circulations, one over Chhattisgarh and Odisha, and another over south Gujarat and its neighbourhood. “The westerlies are strong at 40-50 km per hour and this condition is expected to continue for the next five days,” said Kumar.

The downpour meant flood-prone spots in Dadar, Sion, King’s Circle and Khar, Lower Parel, Andheri went under and traffic had to be stopped at places till water receded. BEST buses on a few routes had to be diverted.

BMC additional municipal commissioner Vijay Singhal said despite flooding, water receded fast. “Pre-monsoon work at chronic flooding spots like Fitwala Lane at Lower Parel helped,” he said.

Many schools were already announcing a rainy day break in the morning, when the education department declared a holiday for schools and colleges. But the rest of the city worked, with trains, buses and the metro running.

Adjoining regions also received heavy rains, with Dahanu in the north receiving 354mm between Sunday and Monday morning. Heavy rain also hit Vasai and Thane, leading to flooding in Virar Global City, Nalasopara (West), Vasant Nagari in Vasai (East), and Manickpur Naka in Vasai.