Mumbai receives over 200 mm of rain in 11 hours on Tuesday

Mumbai: Mumbai received more than 200 mm of rain in just 11 hours between 4 am and 3 pm on Tuesday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said, as the downpour brought India's financial capital to its knees.

The city received 37 per cent of its average August rainfall during the 54-hour period from 8.30 am on August 17 to 2:30 pm on Tuesday, it said in a release.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall in parts of Mumbai and its suburbs for the next 24 hours. It also issued a "Red Nowcast Warning" valid for three hours from 4 pm onwards, predicting intense to very intense spells of rain with gusty winds reaching 40-50 kmph and gusting to 60 kmph in Thane, Palghar, Raigad, and Ratnagiri districts of coastal Maharashtra, along with Mumbai.

On Tuesday, Vikhroli East received 268 mm of rain, Marol 262 mm, Passpoli in Powai 257 mm, Versova 250 mm and Forsbery reservoir in F-South ward 220 mm between 4 am and 3 pm, the BMC said.

In the 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Tuesday, the western suburbs recorded the highest downpour with Chincholi fire station recording 361 mm of rain, Kandivali fire station 337 mm, Dindoshi municipal school 305 mm and Magathane bus depot 304 mm.

In the island city of south Mumbai, the rain gauges at Storm Water Drainage Workshop in Dadar and B Nadkarni municipal school in Wadala recorded 300 mm and 282 mm of rain during the same period. In the eastern suburbs, Chembur fire station received 297 mm of rain, Vikhroli building proposal office 293 mm, Passpoli municipal school in Powai 290 mm and Vinanagar municipal school 288 mm of rain during 24 hours till 8.30 am.

During the 54-hour period from 8.30 am on August 17, Colaba observatory in South Mumbai recorded 179 mm of rain. During the same period, Santacruz observatory in western suburbs recorded a whopping 489 mm of rain, amounting to 86 per cent of the entire month's average rainfall.

The BMC's pumping stations across the city played a key role in draining floodwater, the release said, adding that from August 16 to 19, as much as 1,645 crore litres of rainwater was pumped out.

Its six pumping stations -- Haji Ali, Lovegrove (Worli), Cleveland Bunder, Britannia (Reay Road), Irla (Juhu) and Gazdarbandh (Santacruz) -- have 43 pumps, each with the capacity to pump out 6,000 litres of water per second and aggregate capacity of 2.58 lakh litres per seconds.

In the four days since August 16, the BMC's pumping stations collectively operated for more than 761 hours and lifted volumes of water exceeding twice the storage capacity of the Tulsi lake, the release said.

In addition, 540 mobile dewatering pumps deployed across low-lying areas removed 182.5 crore litres of water in six hours on Tuesday morning, the BMC said.