Mumbai: Rain floods parts of city, slows trains

A commuter on Juhu Tara Road on Friday. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Sporadic spells of unseasonal rain, moderate to heavy at certain pockets, caught Mumbaikars off guard on Friday. It was enough to flood the Andheri subway forcing authorities to shut the traffic through the underpass for over an hour. The showers also slowed down the local trains on Central Railway.

Meteorologists attributed the weather condition to the late withdrawal of the monsoon as well as low pressure in the Bay of Bengal.

There was no report of any major diversion of bus routes from the BEST undertaking.

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The Andheri subway was closed around 3.50 pm for dewatering after water levels rose up to 2 feet. At 5.26 pm, the Mumbai Traffic Police tweeted, "Andheri subway is open for vehicular movement." At every moderate spell of rain, the subway has remained closed for traffic this monsoon.

A spell of heavy showers lashes the Mahatma Phule Market at Fort on Friday. Pic/Satej Shinde

Ranjan Desai-Kamath, a software consultant at Byculla, said he was caught unawares by the unexpected rain. "It suddenly became dark and started pouring. I did not have an umbrella and was drenched in a 10-minute walk to my office from the station."

The India Meteorological Department has predicted thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and light to moderate rain accompanied by gusty winds (30 to 40 kmph) in Mumbai, Thane and adjoining areas for Saturday. Moderate rain is also expected for Sunday, it said.

The scene on S V Road, Santacruz. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

"The monsoon has not withdrawn and is still present in Mumbai, and there is a significant level of moisture in the air. Because of this, there is no clear projection of a monsoon retreat anytime soon, light to moderate rainfall will persist throughout the city and suburban area for the next few days. This has a direct impact on the daily temperature, and an increase in temperature as expected in the month of October is unlikely as long as the rains continue.," IMD scientist Sushma Nair.

Weather scientists said any rain after September 30 is considered unusual.

The island city, eastern and western suburbs received an average of 1.05 mm, 9.12 mm, and 1.28 mm rainfall respectively between 11 am and 2 pm on Friday, a civic official said.

Explaining the weather system that is leading to the rainfall, Mahesh Palawat, the chief meteorologist at Skymet Weather, a private weather forecasting agency, said, "The entire western and north-western part of India is experiencing an unusual weather pattern this year, which is not letting the temperature rise during October." As per Skymet, there is a chance of a monsoon withdrawal post-October 13.

As per Vagaries of Weather, the thundershowers in Mumbai today are neither unusual nor alarming. Rajesh Kapadia, who is involved with the popular weather blog, said, "Mumbai, MMR, Pune and Nashik districts can receive thundershowers and likely rain/thundershowers may persist over the weekend. Mumbai Monsoon can persist into next week."

Rainfall up to 6.30 pm

49mm
Cooper Hospital

37mm
Ram Mandir

61mm
Versova pumping station

47mm
Jogeshwari railway station

Commuterspeak

R Venkat, Shipping Corporation employee
‘The 5:56 pm AC fast local started from Mumbai CSMT late, stopped at Byculla, and was made slow after that. Otherwise, services seemed fine throughout the day. The rain has stopped now and I hope to reach home on time'

Karan Jotwani, Andheri resident
‘My journey back from work took one more hour as the [Andheri] subway was shut and Gokhale bridge was jammed. Some permanent solution is needed for this subway flooding'

Sumit G, Andheri resident
‘On my way home, I had to return from Andheri subway as it was closed for traffic due to waterlogging. From Andheri East WEH, I went to JVLR junction and then took the Balasaheb Thackeray flyover to reach the west'