Mumbai rains: ‘City not prepared for the monsoon this time’

Mumbaikars enjoy the rain on Sunday morning at Sion. Pic/Atul Kamble

Mumbaikar's get respite from hot and humid weather, as the monsoon finally arrived. Two days ahead of its original onset date, the Southwest monsoon officially entered Mumbai, accompanied by thunder and lightning.

The city and its suburbs have already received good rain early Sunday morning, with the Santacruz observatory recording 20 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours. Dahisar and Borivli received the heaviest rainfall in the last 24 hours, recorded till at 8.30 am.

Confirming the development, Sushma Nair, a scientist with India Meteorological Department (IMD), Mumbai said, "Southwest monsoon 2024 onset over Mumbai started on June 9. This is two days ahead of its normal estimated date of arrival on June 11."

The weather during the day remained partly sunny and partly cloudy, however, this helped weather across the city and adjoining areas to cool down a bit.

Talking about the rainfall the city received, Rajesh Kapadia of Vagaries of Weather said, "Received pre-monsoon showers on Saturday night. This is due to the upper air circulation (UAC) stationed at South Konkan and bringing in moisture. UAC is expected to move away and result in NW winds, which can stall the monsoon by another 24 hrs over Mumbai. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region too received good thundershowers overnight."

Meanwhile Mahesh Palawat, vice president of Meteorology and Climate Change at Skymet Weather, a private weather forecasting agency said, "As predicted, monsoon reached Mumbai and Pune on June 9. Keeping pace with the normal dates of the onset monsoon line passing through Thane Ahmednagar and Beed."

As per Skymet weather, favourable weather systems are contributing to this early arrival of the monsoon. "A cyclonic circulation over Saurashtra and Kutch, along with a trough extending from the Maharashtra coast to Kerala, is pulling in monsoon currents. This will lead to increased rainfall activity across Mumbai, Pune, and surrounding districts."

It added, "With the official arrival of the monsoon in Mumbai, temperatures are expected to take a welcome dip, providing much-needed relief from the recent hot weather conditions.

Monsoon woes

Residents fear a challenging monsoon season due to numerous dug-up sites and ongoing construction work in the city.

"There is no link between the BMC and the people. There are so many issues, and the BMC is ill-prepared for the monsoon this time. Nullah cleaning work in many areas is incomplete. There are potholes and cracks everywhere, which the BMC has not filled. By the end of May, our citizens' group was invited to monsoon preparedness meetings with public representatives. We had the chance to meet many officials and those in-charge, but when we complained, there was no response. Corporators previously got work done at the local level fearing public wrath, but now even that has stopped," said Gopal Jhaveri, a resident of Borivli.

Nikhil Desai, a city-based civic activist and resident of King Circle, said "Major nullahs have been cleaned, but minor nullahs and stormwater drains (SWDs) are still incomplete, which will lead to waterlogging."

59mm
Rainfall recorded in Borivli

Area-wise rainfall recorded

Borivli West: 59 mm
Dahisar West: 58 mm
Aarey: 54 mm
Jogeshwari East: 45 mm
Magathane: 43 mm
Powai: 34 mm
Andheri: 33 mm
Mulund West: 32 mm