Mumbai gets 200 mm rain in many parts as monsoon arrives earliest in 75 years, Met dept issues red alert
Two days after hitting Kerala ahead of schedule, the southwest monsoon marked an early arrival in Mumbai on Monday — the earliest recorded onset in at least the past 75 years.
With some parts of the city recording over 200 mm of rainfall between Sunday midnight and Monday afternoon, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) upgraded its forecast to a “red alert”, warning of heavy rainfall with thunderstorms and gusty winds in Mumbai as well as the neighbouring districts of Thane, Raigad and Ratnagiri.
The light to moderate showers in the city over the weekend intensified to a heavy downpour over Sunday night. As it continued to rain through the day, suburban train services as well as road traffic were hit with several areas of the city reporting water-logging. Operations on a Metro line were suspended after an underground station was inundated with water.
Records from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) automated weather station showed that that several pockets received over 200 mm rainfall between Sunday midnight and Monday morning (11.30 am). According to the data, Nariman Point station recorded 252 mm rainfall, followed by Byculla (E ward office) with 213 mm, Colaba with 207 mm, Do Taki station with 202 mm, Marine Lines and Chandanwadi area with 180 mm, Memonwada with 183 mm, and Worli with 171 mm.
According to IMD data, the Colaba observatory recorded 144 mm rainfall between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm on Monday, while Santacruz recorded 74.3 mm. Between Sunday and Monday morning (until 8.30 am), Colaba recorded 135 mm rainfall while Santacruz received 33 mm.
Following Monday’s downpour, the Colaba station recorded 295 mm of rainfall this month (until Monday morning), shattering a 107-year-old record to become the wettest May – it was 279.4 mm in 1918.
“What we are witnessing right now is monsoon rainfall. The tip of Colaba in south Mumbai recorded extremely heavy rainfall during the morning, mainly due to the intense rainfall in Raigad district area. Moderate to heavy spells of rainfall will continue throughout the day,” Sushma Nair, IMD scientist, told The Indian Express in the morning.
The highest single-day rainfall recorded in Mumbai so far is 944 mm on July 27, 2005 at Santacruz observatory; at Colaba observatory, the highest is 575 mm on July 5, 1974.
The normal date for the onset of monsoon in Mumbai is June 11. According to the IMD, the data available since 1950 shows that this is the earliest arrival of the monsoon in the city.
Meanwhile, other parts of Maharashtra, too, recorded heavy rainfall since Sunday night. Satara district recorded 163 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours, followed by 139 mm in Ahmednagar’s Shrigonda taluka, 135 mm in Satara’s Phaltan, and 111 mm in several talukas around Pune.
Maharashtra has received an average of 140 mm rainfall this month — marking a significant departure from the monthly average of 17.7 mm for May.
Monsoon hit the state on Sunday, a day after its onset in Kerala on Saturday — its earliest arrival over the Indian mainland since 2009. The southwest monsoon usually makes its onset over Kerala by June 1, reaches Mumbai by June 11 and covers the entire country by July 8. It starts retreating from northwest India around September 17 and withdraws completely by October 15.
