After record delay, monsoon hits city with a fury

Had it been delayed by another day, this year would have been the second-most delayed onset for Mumbai ever, after June 28, 1974. This year also marked the first time since June 21, 1961, that the monsoon arrived in Mumbai and Delhi on the same day

Mumbai: One of the city’s most delayed monsoons on record arrived with full steam over the weekend, depositing 176mm of rain at the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) base-weather station in Santacruz, in the 24 hours ending 8:30am Sunday. The monsoon’s official arrival in the city on Sunday marks the city’s most delayed monsoon since 2019, when it also arrived on June 25.

There were two major incidents of building collapses reported in Ghatkopar east and Vile Parle. Two people died and three were injured in the Vile Parle balcony collapse while rescue operations were still in progress at the Ghatkopar building collapse site. Three residents were rescued while two others were still trapped under the debris till the time of going to press. (Praful Gangurde / HT Photo)

Had it been delayed by another day, this year would have been the second-most delayed onset for Mumbai ever, after June 28, 1974. This year also marked the first time since June 21, 1961, that the monsoon arrived in Mumbai and Delhi on the same day.

Dahisar remained the rainiest location in Greater Mumbai, recording 220mm of rain in 24 hours. Rainfall between 64.5mm and 115.5mm in 24 hours is considered ‘heavy’, and between 115.6mm and 204.4mm is ‘very heavy’. Over 204.5 mm is considered ‘extremely heavy’ rain, and over 300 mm is ‘exceptionally heavy’.

Other areas that received large volumes of rain over the weekend, as per BMC data, include Dindoshi (209mm), Bandra (188mm), Chembur (172mm), Vikhroli (170mm), Antop Hill (155mm) and Dadar (154mm), among others.

There were two major incidents of building collapses reported in Ghatkopar east and Vile Parle. Two people died and three were injured in the Vile Parle balcony collapse while rescue operations were still in progress at the Ghatkopar building collapse site. Three residents were rescued while two others were still trapped under the debris till the time of going to press.

A total of 38 tree falling incidents were also reported in the city on Sunday, from 17 spots in the western suburbs and 10 spots in eastern suburbs. There were also seven incidents of short circuits but without any injuries.

The rains also finally broke the prevailing heat in the city, with both minimum and maximum temperatures falling below normal for the first time in at least two weeks. Sunday’s maximum temperature reading was 29.2 degrees Celsius, and minimum was 23.6 degrees Celsius.

Though the IMD had earlier placed Mumbai under an ‘orange’ category weather alert, this was downgraded on Sunday morning to a less severe ‘yellow’ alert as much calmer weather conditions had set in. Widespread showers will continue across Mumbai and the MMR region till at least June 28, officials said, with June 27-28 being ‘orange alert’ days again for Mumbai.

“The monsoon current is very strong at the moment, what is officially called ‘active to vigorous’. The southwest monsoon covered the entire Maharashtra state today including Mumbai and Pune. It has covered a very substantial part of the country in a single day,” said Anupam Kashyapi, head of the IMD’s forecasting division in Pune.

“Observations confirm that the monsoon has reached Mumbai-MMR and some parts of Madhya Maharashtra such as Pune. However, the rainfall distribution in western Vidarbha, Marathwada and north Madhya Maharashtra is still not satisfactory to declare the monsoon’s progression. For example, places such as Akola witnessed a very high maximum temperature of 38.4 degrees C on 24 June and no rainfall was recorded,” said Akshay Deoras, research scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Reading, UK.