The heavy rainfall on Tuesday resulted in traffic snarls, stalled trains, submerged railway tracks and numerous tree collapses. What’s more, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted “heavy to very heavy rainfall” in the next 72-hours.
Till evening on Tuesday, Colaba had recorded 84.6 mm of rainfall, whereas Santa Cruz 142.2 mm. But, there were other areas, which received very heavy rainfall in just 12 hours through the day. Bhandup received maximum rainfall measuring 151.7 mm, close second was Wadala with 140.2 mm, Kurla received the third highest rainfall with 133.9 mm, and Dadar with 132.9 mm and Bandra with 132.6 mm followed closely.
The average rainfall received by the island city was 96 mm in the 12-hour period. The Eastern suburbs received 108 mm, whereas the Western suburbs received 88 mm in the same time frame. What’s more, the tides were 4.88 metres high at 12.48 pm on Tuesday, which caused the water logging.
Up till now, Mumbai has already seen about ten days when the city has seen heavy or very heavy rainfall. As per the MET’s definition 64.5-124mm rainfall is classified as “heavy”, 124.5-244.5mm “very heavy”, and above 244.5mm ‘extremely heavy”.
Enumerating the reason for the heavy rainfall, director of forecast, IMD V.K. Rajeev said, “The westerly winds have gained strength and there is a low pressure area building up over the Bay of Bengal, which is causing the heavy rainfall. We have also issued a “heavy to very heavy rainfall” warning. However, these warnings are updated every 12 hours.”
According to the weather bureau’s Tuesday night forecast, “Heavy rainfall would occur at a few places, while very heavy rainfall can be expected at isolated places over the Konkan and Goa region (including Greater Mumbai) during the next 60 hours.
The city is likely to come to a halt on Wednesday as there is high tide measuring 4.95 metres at 1.27 pm. If it rains heavily on Wednesday morning, then there is likely to be flooding in the low-lying areas once again.