Mumbai rains: Four die, schools shut as cloudburst-like conditions sweep city with over 200 mm rains in 6 hours
Sep 26, 2024, 07:37 IST
It was a quiet, cloudy evening in Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, when things took a sudden and dramatic turn. By 5 pm, the skies started to unleash a torrential downpour, drenching parts of the city with over 200mm of rain in just six hours. The heavy rains wreaked havoc, causing severe waterlogging, crippling traffic, and disrupting railway and flight services.
As per the Mumbai Mesonet Observations from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Municipal Corporation's N ward in Ghatkopar East received a maximum of 207 mm between 6 pm to midnight. To put this into context, this is 1/10th of the rainfall amount that the city of Mumbai normally receives over the entire duration of the monsoon season from June to September.
High volumes of rains of over 100 mm within a short duration are usually classified as a cloudburst. However, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has not termed this episode officially yet, and is likely not a cloudburst as such high volumes were reported only in parts of the city over 4 to 6 hours.
However, two people died due to lightning while working in a stone quarry at Varap village in Kalyan, while a woman drowned near Zenith waterfall. While the train services on both the Main and Harbour lines of Central Railways were severely affected, Western Railways operated without any major disruptions. Harbour line services were reportedly suspended from 9.40pm due to waterlogging. With 14 flights diverted and four tragic fatalities, an emergency-like situation prevailed over Mumbai for a few hours.
The IMD elevated its initial orange alert to a red alert for Mumbai, Thane, and Raigad, forecasting extremely heavy rainfall, thunderstorms with lightning, and gusty winds at isolated places until Thursday morning. Accordingly, the schools and colleges in Mumbai and Thane will be shut on Thursday as a precaution.
Wednesday's rainfall figures in most areas, including the city's base station at Santacruz, are expected to reach well over 100 mm mark. As per the IITM's real-time data, parts of the city like Juhu, Mahim, Sion, Airoli, and Colaba have registers close to 150 mm rainfall over the last 24 hours, majority of which was concentrated between 5 pm and 10 pm on Wednesday.
As per the IMD forecasts, thunderstorm, lightning, isolated extremely heavy spells of rainfall and gusty winds are very likely at isolated places across North Konkan on Thursday as well. Warnings of heavy to very heavy rainfall have been for Mumbai, Thane, and Raigad, forecasting extremely heavy rainfall, thunderstorms with lightning, and gusty winds at isolated places until Thursday morning.
By Wednesday morning, Mumbai had already seen significant rainfall, recording 74mm in the 24 hours ending at 8:30 AM. IMD classifies rainfall between 64.5mm and 115.5mm as heavy. In the 24 hours between September 23 and 24, Mumbai recorded 75mm of rain, bringing the total rainfall to 149mm over 48 hours.
This ongoing wet spell has kept the city on high alert, with residents and authorities closely monitoring weather updates to prepare for any potential impact. In light of the red alert, BMC Commissioner directed all assistant commissioners to ensure that one executive engineer from each ward stayed in the ward control room.
IMD's Colaba observatory recorded 70.4mm of rainfall, and the Santacruz observatory noted 94.9mm in the 12-hour period ending at 8:30 pm on Wednesday. Due to this rainfall and the subsequent issues, harried commuters found themselves stuck on roads, at railway stations, and inside trains for hours.
Authorities remain on high alert, monitoring the situation and ensuring that response teams are active and ready to address any further emergencies arising from the heavy rains. Assistant commissioners were also instructed to maintain communication with the disaster management control room for updates and attend the office in case of emergencies. Officials were ordered to remain available in their respective zones, and deputy municipal commissioners were to keep vigil and monitor actions taken by ward and central agency staff.
(With inputs from The Times of India and agencies)
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As per the Mumbai Mesonet Observations from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Municipal Corporation's N ward in Ghatkopar East received a maximum of 207 mm between 6 pm to midnight. To put this into context, this is 1/10th of the rainfall amount that the city of Mumbai normally receives over the entire duration of the monsoon season from June to September.
High volumes of rains of over 100 mm within a short duration are usually classified as a cloudburst. However, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has not termed this episode officially yet, and is likely not a cloudburst as such high volumes were reported only in parts of the city over 4 to 6 hours.
However, two people died due to lightning while working in a stone quarry at Varap village in Kalyan, while a woman drowned near Zenith waterfall. While the train services on both the Main and Harbour lines of Central Railways were severely affected, Western Railways operated without any major disruptions. Harbour line services were reportedly suspended from 9.40pm due to waterlogging. With 14 flights diverted and four tragic fatalities, an emergency-like situation prevailed over Mumbai for a few hours.
The IMD elevated its initial orange alert to a red alert for Mumbai, Thane, and Raigad, forecasting extremely heavy rainfall, thunderstorms with lightning, and gusty winds at isolated places until Thursday morning. Accordingly, the schools and colleges in Mumbai and Thane will be shut on Thursday as a precaution.
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As per the IMD forecasts, thunderstorm, lightning, isolated extremely heavy spells of rainfall and gusty winds are very likely at isolated places across North Konkan on Thursday as well. Warnings of heavy to very heavy rainfall have been for Mumbai, Thane, and Raigad, forecasting extremely heavy rainfall, thunderstorms with lightning, and gusty winds at isolated places until Thursday morning.
By Wednesday morning, Mumbai had already seen significant rainfall, recording 74mm in the 24 hours ending at 8:30 AM. IMD classifies rainfall between 64.5mm and 115.5mm as heavy. In the 24 hours between September 23 and 24, Mumbai recorded 75mm of rain, bringing the total rainfall to 149mm over 48 hours.
This ongoing wet spell has kept the city on high alert, with residents and authorities closely monitoring weather updates to prepare for any potential impact. In light of the red alert, BMC Commissioner directed all assistant commissioners to ensure that one executive engineer from each ward stayed in the ward control room.
IMD's Colaba observatory recorded 70.4mm of rainfall, and the Santacruz observatory noted 94.9mm in the 12-hour period ending at 8:30 pm on Wednesday. Due to this rainfall and the subsequent issues, harried commuters found themselves stuck on roads, at railway stations, and inside trains for hours.
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Mumbai has received a 9% excess rainfall this monsoon season so far, with 2221 mm accumulation against the normal of 2046 from June 1 to September 25.Authorities remain on high alert, monitoring the situation and ensuring that response teams are active and ready to address any further emergencies arising from the heavy rains. Assistant commissioners were also instructed to maintain communication with the disaster management control room for updates and attend the office in case of emergencies. Officials were ordered to remain available in their respective zones, and deputy municipal commissioners were to keep vigil and monitor actions taken by ward and central agency staff.
(With inputs from The Times of India and agencies)