City sees highest 24-hour rain in September in 4 years

MUMBAI: : The city recorded its highest 24-hour rainfall figures for September in the past four years after the downpour continued through all of Tuesday, up to

MUMBAI: : The city recorded its highest 24-hour rainfall figures for September in the past four years after the downpour continued through all of Tuesday, up to Wednesday morning.

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Between 8.30am on Tuesday and the same time on Wednesday, the weather station at Santacruz, recorded 142.6mm rain (representative of Mumbai) while Colaba received only 37.4mm.

The highest 24-hour rainfall figure for September in the past 10 years was recorded on September 4, 2012 at 185.2 mm. However, the all-time record was observed on September 23, 1981 at 318.2mm.

Meanwhile, between Tuesday and Wednesday, Dahanu recorded an all-time record reading for the month of September at 528.6mm rain, going beyond the ‘extreme’ category. Previously, the all-time record for the month was 481mm in 1958. Other areas that recorded heavy rain were Mahabaleshwar at 57.3mm, Alibaug 52.2mm, Harnai 53.6mm and areas in Marathwada such as Jalgaon and Bhira recorded rainfall above 40mm.

For the fourth day in a row, the city received continuous heavy rainfall throughout the day on Wednesday. Between 8.30am to 8.30pm Wednesday, Colaba recorded 98.6mm rain while 56.8mm was recorded at Santacruz.

Under the IMD’s new classification, 15.6mm to 64.4mm rain is considered moderate, 64.5mm to 115.5mm is heavy, 115.6mm to 204.4mm is very heavy and more than 204.5mm is extreme.

Weathermen said the city can expect the thick cloud cover to continue with heavy to very heavy rainfall in the next 48 hours (beginning Wednesday).

“The south-west monsoon along both the west and east coast is active. The upper air cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal is pulling moisture from the Arabian Sea and giving rise to such weather conditions,” said KS Hosalikar, deputy director general, western region, India Meteorological Department.