Less than 24 hours after the India Meteorological Department (IMD) declared the early arrival of monsoon in Mumbai, the city woke up to an overcast sky on Monday with no rain. However, the last 24 hours, ending at 8:30 am, saw significant rainfall recorded at various weather stations. The Santacruz IMD weather station reported 69mm of rain, while Colaba recorded 53mm.
The IMD has issued a ‘yellow alert’ for the city, warning of thunderstorms with lightning, heavy rain, and gusty winds (50-60 kmph) at isolated places. Although most of Sunday remained dry, rainfall activity accompanied by lightning and thunderstorms began around 8 pm in some parts of the city and intensified by 9 pm. The heavy downpour started after 10 pm, continued post-midnight until around 1 am, causing waterlogging in many areas of south and central Mumbai. The situation was exacerbated by the high tide of 3.74 meters. The Andheri subway and Parel TT bridge were shut for around two hours until the rainwater receded.
According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Tagore Nagar in Vikhroli recorded the highest rainfall of 158.2 mm in just five hours, from 8 pm to 1 am. During this period, the city area’s average rainfall was 99.11 mm. The eastern suburbs recorded 61.29 mm, while the western suburbs recorded 73.78 mm.
In the three hours between 10 pm and 1 am, seven rain gauges placed strategically across the city as part of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology’s Mumbai Mesonet observation network recorded above 100 mm of rain, ranging from heavy (64.5 mm-115.5 mm) to very heavy (115.6 mm – 204.4 mm). These included Britannia Storm Water Pumping Station in Reay Road (132.56 mm), Dadar Fire Station (104.13 mm), Dahisar Fire Station (116.06 mm), F South Ward Office in Parel (119.62 mm), G South Ward Office in Prabhadevi (113.27 mm), SWD Workshop Dadar (122.18 mm), and Worli Fire Station (109.96 mm).
Residents expressed their outrage about waterlogging within a few hours of rain in areas such as Hindmata, Dadar, Byculla, Sewri station, Worli, Vikhroli, Tagore Nagar, Lalbaugh, Wadala, Sakinaka, Mulund, Bhandup, Vidyavihar, Dahisar Check Naka, Veera Desai, Bandra West, Vile Parle, and Malad.
Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray criticized municipal authorities and other agencies for their unpreparedness. In a statement on Monday morning, he said, “The absence of elected representatives in municipal corporations has isolated these agencies from public feedback. Usually, there is a mechanism of public feedback and coordination with infrastructure agencies and service providers. Pumps are placed and activated to avoid water logging. But this year, the first rain has seen the municipal corporations of Mumbai and Pune, directly run by the BJP-Mindhe regime, completely unprepared for the rains, despite the Met dept forecasting it.”
Despite the rain, the monsoon arrival brought down morning temperatures on Monday. Santacruz recorded a minimum temperature of 24.2 degrees Celsius, 2.4 degrees below normal, with 94% humidity at 8:30 am, while Colaba recorded a minimum of 23.5 degrees Celsius, 2.9 degrees below normal, with 88% humidity.
Sources By Agencies
