28 August,2011 08:42 AM IST | | Urvashi Seth
A low-pressure area is building over Maharashtra;u00a0 city to witness heavy to very heavy rainfall in the next 48 hours
According to the weather bureau, Saturday's rain is just a taste of more to come. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has announced that Mumbai will witness heavy to very heavy rainfall in the next 48 hours.
A low-pressure area is continuing to build over Maharashtra leading to the rains. According to VK Rajeev, Director of the IMD (Western Region) this pressure is being built because of an upper air cyclonic circulation over Orissa and the states nearby. Rajeev said, "There has been a general strengthening of Westerlies (winds that blow from high pressure areas to the poles) in the mid-tropospheric levels, as a result of which widespread rainfall has occurred over Maharashtra," he said.
The low-pressure area is reportedly moving along the monsoon trough passing through Bikaner, Kota, Seoni, Raipur Gopalpur and East Central Bay. More rainfall is thus expected to occur in not just Mumbai, but also Marathwada, Vidarbha, mid Maharashtra and the Konkan and Goan region for the next 24-48 hours.
Santacruz recorded a rainfall of 117.4 mm till 5.30 pm Saturday, while Colaba witnessed 54.4 mm rainfall.
Officials at the met department are waiting to see if the amount of rainfall that occurred on Saturday breaks previous records of the heaviest recorded rainfall within 24 hours in August. The highest such rainfall took place in August 23, 1997 when the city saw a total of 346.2 mm of rain and the second highest such rainfall took place in August 7, 2006 (224.2 mm).
Saturday's showers also brought down temperatures in the city with the maximum temperature in Colaba
touching 27 degree Celsius and Santacruz witnessing 25.8 degree Celsius.
The deluge also led to trains on both Central and Western lines getting delayed by 10 to 15 minutes. Such delays were also seen in the Konkan railways. Many flights flying into and out from the city were also delayed, with some even being cancelled.
