Many Mumbaikars had to take a rain check on their Friday afternoon plans as three hours of downpour-between 11.30am and 2.30pm, Santacruz weather station recorded 89mm, categorised as heavy rainfall for 24 hours-combined with a high tide caused waterlogging in many areas and not only disrupted road traffic but also hit CR services hard.
Harbour Down line services from Wadala to Mankhurd were suspended for nearly half an hour.
July rainfall crossed the 1,000mm mark on Friday. Colaba and Santacruz recorded 93.2mm and 120mm in the 12 hours ending 8.30pm. For Saturday, an orange alert has been sounded for Mumbai & Thane and red for Palghar
89mm rain in just 3 hrs; orange alert in city and red in Palghar
July rainfall crossed the 1,000mm mark on Friday, thanks to the 89mm the city received within a three-hour window between 11.30am and 2.30pm-the first instance of such intense and concentrated spell this season. India Meteorological Department’s Colaba and Santacruz observatories recorded 93mmm and 120mm rainfall, respectively, in the 12 hours ended 8.30pm on Friday. The city had already crossed its July rainfall average of 855mm to touch 902mm on Thursday. In the 24 hours till 8.30am on Friday, the neighbouring Thane had recorded 42.7mm rain, Palghar 100mm and Vasai 136mm.
BMC commissioner I S Chahal said several areas in the city too saw 100mm rainfall in a short span and during the high tide hours of 2.27pm. According to the BMC’s automatic weather stations, these localities included Vikhroli at 130mm, Chembur 116mm, Marol 124 mm and Bandra 101mm.
For Saturday, an orange alert has been sounded for Mumbai and Thane and red for Palghar. Due to the red alert, schools and colleges in Palghar district will remain shut for the third consecutive day on Saturday. The district has been receiving very heavy rainfall with several areas marooned under water.
Weather officials have said the wet spell is likely to continue due to a fresh low pressure area which is likely to form over the northwest and the adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal off south Odisha-north Andhra
Pradesh coasts around July 24, Monday, said Sushma Nair, scientist, IMD Mumbai.
Unfortunately, the lakes supplying water to Mumbai have not seen a significant rise. Even as stock in the seven lakes that supply water to Mumbai rose a little to 42.7% on Friday from 39.6% on Thursday, levels in two major dams that supply water to NMMC, PCMC and Cidco areas, besides parts of Uran council, Nhava
Sheva, swelled significantly. Morbe dam level breached 80 metre, inching close to the overflow mark of 88m. Similarly, Hetawane dam volume hit 80.5m, nearing the 85m overflow mark.
Abhijit Modak, an independent forecaster, said: “Westerlies were not penetrating due to midlevel vortex in shear zone so while parts of Thane, Raigad Palghar got almost 200mm rain, lakes supplying water to Mumbai missed it as these are located on 19.5 degree north latitude.”
IMD’s only functional C band radar at Veravali which has surveillance up to 250-350km was shut for an hour due to internet-related issues.
Source : Times of India