The Colaba weather observatory in south Mumbai on Wednesday recorded its highest single-day rainfall received in a period of 24 hours for August since 1974.
IMD Mumbai centre's deputy director general K S Hosalikar said the Colaba observatory received 331.8 mm rainfall in last 24 hours.
The Colaba observatory recorded the highest single day rainfall in the last 46 years on Wednesday -- 331.8 mm. Meanwhile, in August 1998, the observatory had received 261.9 mm rainfall in 24 hours. Even during the deluge of 2005 when 944 mm rainfall was recorded in 24 hours at Santacruz observatory in the suburbs, Colaba's reading was 161 mm.
Mumbai received the highest rainfall of the season within just 12 hours on Wednesday besides the highest-ever wind speed. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the island city recorded 215.8 mm rain, followed by 101.9 mm in eastern suburbs and 76.03 mm in western suburbs.
The 'D' civic ward, that includes upscale areas like Malabar Hill and Peddar Road, received 309 mm rainfall, while the maximum wind speed of 101.4 kmph was recorded at Marine drive around 4.15 pm, the civic body said.
Several videos of rain havoc in Mumbai went viral on social media on Wednesday, showing floodwater inside shops, building compounds and slums. Meanwhile, the BMC said the Vihar lake, one of the reservoirs supplying water to Mumbai, overflowed on Wednesday at 10 pm due to incessant rains in its catchment areas since Tuesday.
The lake has water capacity of 26,968 million litres. According to the BMC, last year the lake had overflowed on July 31, 2019. Vihar is the second lake after Tulsi which has overflowed. Mumbai gets water from seven dams.
