The Indian Meteorological Department on Wednesday predicted very heavy rainfall for Mumbai for the next 48 hours. Even as rainfall caused traffic snarls across the metropolis through the day, there were no reports of water-logging or train disruptions.
The IMD forecast for Mumbai and suburban areas predicted intermittent or continuous rain with few heavy spells progressing to very heavy rains during the next 24 to 48 hours. The officials attributed the very heavy rainfall prediction to the strengthening cyclonic circulations along the Mumbai and Andhra Pradesh coast. Very heavy rainfall is expected in coastal Konkan, Marathawada, central Maharashtra, and Vidarbha region too.
While the Colaba observatory in South Mumbai had recorded 37 mm rainfall overnight, the Santacruz observatory in Western suburbs recorded four-times more rainfall at 143 mm till 8 a.m. on Wednesday. However, through the day, the trend changed with Colaba observatory recording 98 mm rain and Santacruz registering 56.8 mm rain till 8:30 p.m. The civic weather stations spread across the city recorded 37.68 mm rain in the Island city, while the Eastern and Western suburbs received 32.59 mm and 38.39 mm till 9 p.m.
Though all the major arterial roads reported traffic snarls due to rains, major water logging was reported from Sion, where BEST administration diverted five bus routes passing through the area. However, normal life was disrupted in Dahanu in Palghar district, with the town recording 529 mm rain in the last 24 hours till Wednesday morning. Homes were water logged in Dahanu and Boisar towns and schools and colleges were shut down as a preventive measure.
Private weather forecaster Skymet attributed the return of strong monsoon in Mumbai to a new weather system in the Bay of Bengal, rapidly moving westwards towards the Konkan and Goa coastal region in the next few days.
