At 331.4 mm, Mumbai gets heaviest rainfall since 2005 deluge

Mumbai: The Santacruz observatory of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) here registered 331.4 mm rainfall on Tuesday, the heaviest since the July 26, 2005 record of 944 mm, which had caused the worst havoc in decades in the city.

This is also the highest rainfall in a day in August since 1997. It was second only to 346.2 mm of rainfall registered on August 23, 1997, the data showed.

The Colaba observatory of the IMD registered 110 mm of rainfall yesterday, it said.

"The precipitation measured between 8.30 am of August 29 to 8.30 am of August 30 revealed that Santacruz weather station has received 331.4 mm rainfall, while the Colaba observatory received 110 mm during the same period," the IMD said.

The neighbouring Thane city received 247 mm rainfall, while the downpour measured in Palghar was 280 mm, it said.

On Tuesday afternoon, the IMD had issued a forecast that Mumbai region would get more than 250 mm rainfall.

An IMD official said, "The depression over south Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh had brought more showers, but it got intensified as it received more moisture from the Arabian Sea."

The IMD also predicted heavy showers at a few places in Mumbai region on Wednesday.

Torrential rain, accompanied by strong winds, pummelled Mumbai yesterday, disrupting rail, road and air services, uprooting trees, swamping homes, and bringing the megapolis and satellite towns to their knees.

In many offices, employees had to stay back in the night as roads and railway tracks were waterlogged.