Heavy rains lashed Mumbai and Thane late on Wednesday night and it continued to pour in Mumbai on Thursday as well. Due to the incessant rainfall, there was flooding in low-lying areas. IMD had earlier issued an orange alert for the area and later it was changed to a red after accessing the situation.
According to weather forecasting body, Skymet, In the last 24 hours, many parts of Maharashtra recorded three-digit rainfall. In the last 24 hours, Colaba in Mumbai recorded 116mm, Pune 112mm, Mahabaleshwar 132mm, Ratnagiri 123mm, and Kolhapur recorded 130mm rain.
To put things in perspective, the monthly average rainfall for October for most cities in Maharashtra is less than 100mm. The monthly average rainfall of October for Mumbai is 89.3mm. The 24 hours rainfall record for Mumbai for the month of October is 140.8mm which was recorded on October 4, 1988. During the last 24 hours, Mumbai has received highest 24 hours rainfall recorded in a decade.
Skymet has elaborated that the cause of these unseasonal rains over Maharashtra is a well-marked low-pressure area, which travelled as a deep depression from the Bay of Bengal and crossed Telangana as a depression. Now, this well-marked low is over south the Madhya Maharashtra and adjoining South Konkan and Goa. This well-marked low will move in the West North West direction and emerge into the East Central Arabian Sea by tonight or early morning tomorrow. It may intensify further into a depression, but will not impact the Indian mainland much as it will move in the westerly direction away from the Indian coast, notes the weather body.
While there was some intense rainfall last night and today morning, Skymet believes that from here on, there may be few moderate spells of rain and thundershower over South Konkan and South Madhya Maharashtra. Rain activities over Mumbai and suburbs will be light with one or two short intense spells. The rain threat is now over for Mumbai. Although, on and off rain and thundershower activities may continue over many parts of Maharashtra during next few days, but the intensity will remain light and rains will be patchy.
Considering the possibility that the rains may get more intense, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had already instructed all agencies to be vigilant. Accordingly, the emergency departments of the Municipal Corporation in Mumbai and Thane are monitoring the situation.
Southwest Monsoon usually withdrawal from most parts of Maharashtra by October 15th. Average rainfall in October for Maharashtra also decreases significantly. However, the year 2020 has been very different in this regards.
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