Cyclone Tauktae: Mumbai records highest ever rainfall in May

According to the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) Mumbai centre, the Santacruz observatory (representative of suburbs) recorded 230.3 mm rainfall in the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Tuesday, May 18.

Besides, the Colaba observatory (representative of south Mumbai) recorded 207.6 mm rain during the same period.

On Monday, May 17, Mumbai experienced its wettest-ever day in May, breaking all previous 24-hour rainfall records as the city received 230 mm rainfall. This was also the day that the city had to brace through cyclonic storm Tauktae.

The all-time 24-hour rainfall recorded here for May previously was 190mm (2000).

As per the IMD's calculations, rainfall above 204.5 mm is considered extremely heavy,

"Mumbai (Santacruz): 230 mm in last 24 hrs due to cyclone effect, this is the highest 24hrs rain in Mumbai in May in the recorded history. #CycloneTauktae," Vineet Kumar, a researcher on cyclones in the north Indian Ocean at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune, tweeted on Tuesday.

Mumbai (Santacruz): 230 mm in last 24 hrs due to cyclone effect, this is the highest 24hrs rain in Mumbai in May in the recorded history. #CycloneTauktae

— vineet kumar (@vineet_tropmet) May 18, 2021

As the cyclone came nearer and ran almost parallel to Mumbai during the afternoon hours of Monday, the city experienced winds touching a maximum speed of 108km/hr.

The “Extremely Severe” Cyclone Tauktae came closest at 145km to the west of Mumbai, which brought such heavy rain over the maximum city in a peak summer month. However, it made landfall in Gujarat Monday evening.

Large losses were avoided

Currently, there is a lockdown across Maharashtra, including Mumbai, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Hence, there were fewer vehicles on the roads and the crowd was also less. Although the cyclone's impact was large and it had been categorised as "very severe" and IMD had even issued a red alert, the damage caused by it was not much. As per reports, eight civilians were slightly injured in Mumbai during the storm. A boat capsized but a total of four sailors were rescued, but the search for one sailor did not begin until late Monday.