Mumbai to brace for more rains for next four-five days

Mumbai is set to receive more rain for the next four to five days, the weather bureau warned, after rainfall of more than 300 mm in six hours from 1 am on Monday inundated swathes of India's commercial capital, disrupting suburban train services and flights.

“Mining and manufacturing sectors (in Maharashtra) may be affected as is the case every monsoon,” said Sakshi Gupta, principal economist at HDFC Bank. 

"There was barely any impact on business and banking as most have digital flexibility created during the covid-19 pandemic. Only physical deposits can be affected if it continues downpouring," Gupta added. 

Second highest rainfall recorded in city since 2005

Monday's rainfall was the second highest recorded in the city after 26 July 2005, when Mumbai recorded a record 944 mm. 

More than 50 flights to and from Mumbai were cancelled due to the downpour. Several airlines took to X to warn passengers and urge them to check flight status before leaving for the airport.

Central Maharashtra received 91% excess rain at 13.4 mm and the entire state recorded 92% excess precipitation of 17.8 mm in the past 24 hours. 

With this, the national rainfall was 2% more than above normal at 225.6 mm since the beginning of the four-month (June-September) monsoon season.

“As a cyclonic circulation over Westcentral Bay of Bengal and adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal off north Andhra Pradesh coast, very heavy rainfall is likely over Konkan, Goa and Madhya Maharashtra on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; Gujarat Region, Kerala, Mahe, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Yanam and Interior Karnataka today and over Coastal Karnataka on Tuesday and Friday,” the weather bureau said on Monday.

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“Extremely heavy rainfall is likely over Konkan, Goa, Ghat regions of Madhya Maharashtra and Coastal Karnataka today,” it added.

The met office has issued an orange alert for Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and the Konkan belt. Vikhroli's Veer Savarkar Marg Municipal School and MCMCR Powai saw the highest rainfall in the last 24 hours as over 315 mm of rainfall was recorded.

Initially, BMC announced holiday for the first session for all BMC, government and private schools and colleges in Mumbai (BMC area). Later in the day, BMC announced holiday for the second session for schools and colleges as well.

On 2 July, the South-West monsoon, which arrived in Kerala two days earlier than usual on 30 May, covered the entire country six days ahead of the normal date of 8 July.

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After hitting the Kerala coast northeastern regions two days and six days before its scheduled time, the southwest monsoon progressed normally up to Maharashtra but lost momentum, prolonging the wait for rains in West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, which were reeling from a heatwave.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on 1 July said India could experience above-normal rainfall in July, with heavy rains potentially leading to floods in the western Himalayan states and river basins in the central parts of the country.

This is partly because the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has returned to neutral, and the cooler phase, known as La Niña, is expected to be formed in the second half (August-September) of the monsoon season.

La Niña, meaning “little girl”, is characterised by the cooling of sea surface temperatures in the same regions. It occurs every 3-5 years, and can occasionally happen in consecutive years, leading to increased rainfall and distinct weather patterns, resulting in floods.

Further, the weather office said that sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim today and on Friday, Bihar between Wednesday and Friday; Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya till Thursday; Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura today may receive very heavy rainfall. Extremely heavy rainfall is likely over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim on Wednesday and Thursday and on Tuesday in Arunachal Pradesh.

On monsoon in northwest India, IMD said that widespread light to moderate rainfall accompanied by thunderstorm and lightning is likely over Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Central India; scattered to fairly widespread light to moderate rainfall over Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi; isolated to scattered light or moderate rainfall over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, Muzaffarabad, Punjab and Rajasthan for the next five days.