Mumbai woke up to its rainiest August day since 2020 as torrential downpour battered the city with over 200-mm rain recorded in a six-hour window, prompting the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to upgrade its warning to sound a red alert in the city until Sunday morning. Nearly 43 per cent of Mumbai’s monthly average quota of August rainfall was recorded on a single day on Saturday, inundating several pockets of the city and disrupting traffic, while a rain-triggered landslide killed two persons in Vikhroli.
After receiving light showers throughout Friday when the city’s Santacruz station recorded and the Colaba station 17-mm rainfall until 5.30 pm, intensity of rainfall picked up after 11 pm on Friday night. Owing to the overnight deluge, in a 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Saturday morning, the IMD’s Santacruz station recorded 245-mm rainfall while Colaba recorded 83-mm rain. The heaviest downpour during this period was clocked in eastern suburbs’ Vikhroli area which received 257.5-mm rain.
Data furnished by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) showed that the maximum rain was recorded between 11 pm and 5 am on Saturday when over 200-mm rain soaked the suburbs. During this six-hour window, the heaviest rainfall was recorded in the western suburbs’ Marol area at 216 mm, followed by 213 mm in Santacruz and 207 mm in Andheri. In the eastern suburbs, 214-mm rain was recorded in Vikhroli, followed by 204 mm in Ghatkopar and 200 mm in Powai while in the island city division, Sion recorded 144-mm rain in a five-hour window, followed by 137 mm in Worli and Dadar.
Due to the overnight showers, Mumbai recorded nearly 43 per cent of its monthly average quota of August rainfall within a single day. While the city’s Santacruz station receives an average of 566-mm rain in August, up to 245 mm was recorded within a 24-hour window between Friday and Saturday alone, making it Mumbai’s rainiest August day in the past five years. Prior to this, the previous wettest day of the month was recorded in 2020 when the Santacruz station logged 268.6-mm rain on August 4.
With record-breaking rain pounding the city overnight, several pockets across Mumbai experienced waterlogging, leaving pedestrians to wade through flooded streets and disrupting vehicular traffic. Waterlogging was reported in Chembur, Sion, Chunnabhati’s Everard Nagar, Matunga’s Gandhi Market, Antop Hill, Mankhurd Junction amongst other areas. Mumbai Traffic Police said traffic crawled during the morning hours. Besides, rail services were also impacted due to accumulation of rainwater on railway tracks along Kurla, Tilak Nagar, Matunga and Chunnabhatti among other parts.
Amid a red alert in place, heavy showers continued to sweep pockets of the island city throughout Saturday with Grant road receiving 100-mm rain between 8 am and 6 pm, followed by 98-mm rain in Malabar Hill and 93-mm rain in Fort. However, the suburbs got some respite during the day with the IMD’s Santacruz station receiving only 38.6-mm rain until 5.30 pm on Saturday.
Shubhangi Bhute, director of IMD Mumbai, attributed the resurgence of rainfall to an east-west trough, spanning from Bay of Bengal to Arabian Sea, which has developed under the influence of a low pressure area in the Bay of Bengal.
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While the red alert sounded in Mumbai is till Sunday morning, heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected to continue across the region for the next four-five days at least. In Mumbai, an orange alert has been sounded until Tuesday, following which a yellow alert — possibility of heavy rainfall in isolated pockets — has been issued. Neighbouring districts of Thane, Palghar and Raigad will remain under an orange alert until Wednesday.
