The southwest monsoon arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday, according to the IMD, as heavy rains have been falling since early morning in the country’s financial city and suburbs. Water logging was recorded in several low-lying locations, impacting local railway services in the city, as well as the routes of certain BEST buses being changed, causing traffic congestion. In Maharashtra, the IMD has issued a severe weather warning for the next five days.
A high tide of over four metres is expected around noon in the Arabian Sea, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. “It’s monsoon arrival in Mumbai today,” said Dr Jayanta Sarkar, head of the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Mumbai office.
Informing about the affected local train services, the Indian Railways said that the train services on the Harbour line between Vashi and CSMT has been suspended. Local train services from CSMT top Thane has also been suspended due to waterlogging, it added.
“Due to heavy rains & waterlogging near Chunabhatti railway station, train services on Harbour line b/w CSMT- Vashi suspended from 10.20 am. On Mainline due to waterlogging in Sion-Kurla section, services have been suspended from CSMT- Thane from 10.20 am”, Central railway CPRO said.
According to the IMD, the Colaba observatory (representing south Mumbai) got 77.4 mm of rain in the previous 24 hours, while the Santacruz observatory (representing the suburbs) received 59.6 mm. According to the BMC, in the 24-hour period ending at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, the island city, eastern suburbs, and western suburbs received 48.49 mm, 66.99 mm, and 48.99 mm of rain, respectively.
During the following two days, the southwest monsoon is expected to progress into additional areas of Maharashtra, as well as more sections of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, some areas of Odisha, and more sections of West Bengal, according to the IMD in a tweet.
Heavy rain has been falling in Mumbai since Tuesday evening, but the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has classified it as pre-monsoon showers, with the monsoon due to come in a day or two. The IMD has also issued a rain warning for the city and surrounding districts of Raigad, Thane, Palghar, Pune, and Nashik over the next four days, from June 9 to June 13.
