Rain returns after 2-day break; slows down journey back home

For businessman Rohit Kumar, Thursday evening’s drive back home was a drag. It took him two hours to get to his Marol residence from his office at Parel, a journey that normally takes him close to an hour.

For businessman Rohit Kumar, Thursday evening’s drive back home was a drag.

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It took him two hours to get to his Marol residence from his office at Parel, a journey that normally takes him close to an hour.

“It suddenly started pouring heavily. Construction projects along various roads narrowed down the driving lanes which made the traffic crawl,” he said.

After two days of a relatively dry spell, heavy downpour on Thursday evening took the city by surprise. It poured heavily in Colaba and CST recording a rainfall of about 50 mm in just an hour. While north Mumbai received only 8 mm rainfall for the same time period.

Weathermen have predicted more rainfall in the next two days. “A low pressure area is developing over the Bay of Bengal and clouds are moving very fast from Ratnagiri towards Mumbai,” said R.V. Sharma, deputy director general, western region, India Meteorological Department.

Until 9.30 pm, Colaba received 58.8 mm rain while Santacruz received 24.8 mm.

“Expect good rainfall in the catchment areas,” said Professor Kapil Gupta from IIT-Bombay. “Clouds are moving from Konkan and Andhra Pradesh. However, they are liable to change direction,” he added.