After a delayed arrival of the monsoon this year, the slowest onset in 45 years, Mumbai has received 550 mm of rainfall in two days, the highest over a two-day period in a decade.
Torrential downpour, especially in the suburbs, between Monday night and Tuesday morning, led to Mumbai made it the second highest torrential downpour in 44 years after the 2005 deluge that killed over a thousand people. The 2005 floods witnessed the highest, recording 944mm rainfall in 24 hours.
According to the weather department’s classification, 15.6mm to 64.4mm of rainfall is considered ‘moderate’, 64.5mm to 115.5mm is ‘heavy’, 115.6mm to 204.4mm is ‘very heavy’ and more than 204.5mm is ‘extreme’.
Between 8.30am Monday and 8.30am Tuesday, the Santacruz weather station, representative of the suburbs and Mumbai, recorded 375.2mm rain, falling under the ‘exceptionally heavy’ category (when the amount of rainfall is highest recorded for the season or over a decade, according to the India Meteorological Department). According to IMD, the last time the city recorded the exact figure was in 1974 in July at 375.2mm.
The BMC has issued an advisory to the residents to practice caution as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted close to 200 mm or more rain per day likely between 3 and 5 July.
At least 16 people have lost their lives in rain-related incidents in Mumbai alone in two days.
Meanwhile, the torrential rains have claimed around 50 lives in the past five days in the state so far. The heavy rainfall has resulted in waterlogging, massive traffic jams and flooding homes in low-lying areas. Air, road, rail traffic have been hit in the state.
Sub-urban train movement has been cancelled for now while long-distance rain services have been terminated owing to flooded tracks.
Mumbai airport has not been closed but the main runway has been closed for operation after a flight skidded on the main runway. Some flights have been diverted to Goa while many others were rescheduled.
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