Mumbai: Mumbai woke up to sunny skies on Thursday after nearly a week of heavy rains. The city witnessed a spell of relentless downpours over the past few days, disrupting normal life with traffic snarls, waterlogging and scattered infrastructure damage.
However, in what comes as a respite for residents, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted that the intensity of rainfall in the city will gradually reduce from Thursday onwards. The department has, however, sounded a yellow alert for Mumbai, warning of the possibility of heavy rainfall in isolated pockets.
For the next 48 hours, the city and its suburbs are expected to see generally cloudy skies with occasional spells of moderate to heavy rain in select areas. Maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 28°C and 24°C, respectively.
Daily Life Restored Normalcy
On Wednesday, the city saw an improvement in weather conditions, with rainfall activity easing compared to the preceding days. Public transport services, which had been hampered by the incessant downpour, resumed regular operations, and educational institutions including schools and colleges reopened after being forced to declare a rain holiday earlier in the week.
The recent heavy showers have more than made up for the three-week-long monsoon lull, pushing the city’s rainfall statistics significantly ahead. According to IMD data, Mumbai has already received 83 percent of its annual average rainfall. The Santacruz observatory has recorded 2,310.8 mm of rainfall so far, while the Colaba observatory has logged 1,513 mm.
Details On Rainfall Recorded
Between Tuesday morning (8:30 am) and Wednesday morning (8:30 am), the Santacruz station recorded a massive 209 mm of rainfall. This figure marks the second-highest one-day rainfall for August in the last five years, only behind the 268 mm recorded on August 4, 2020.
On Wednesday, Mumbai and its adjoining districts were under an orange alert, indicating the likelihood of very heavy showers, which was valid till Thursday morning. Post that, the alert level was scaled down to yellow for Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, and Raigad, suggesting a weakening trend in rainfall intensity.
Meanwhile, the torrential downpours caused widespread disruptions across Mumbai. Civic authorities reported 32 cases of short circuits, 93 instances of tree falls, and 14 incidents of wall collapse within the 24-hour period ending Wednesday morning.
