Mumbai rains: City could see worse spell than 26 July 2005, warns Skymet

Mumbai has been witnessing very heavy pre-monsoon rains for the past two days, which led to disruptions in flight and local train operations. But the worst has not yet come, warned private weather forecasting agency Skymet Weather.

The weather predicting agency has warned the the financial capital of the country could see much more rains between June 6 to 12, which could be the worse spell since 26 July 2005, when Mumbai recorded 900mm in a day.

As per Skymet Weather, the reason for these rains can be attributed to the cyclonic circulation that was persisting over South Konkan and Goa region. "As the system is still prevailing, we expect Mumbai to continue to record some more good rains today as well," added Skymet Weather in an article on its website.




"The intensity of rains would keep on increasing over Mumbai and by June 8, we expect a significant increase in the rains leading to few heavy to very heavy spells. These heavy rains may lead to flash floods and may cause traffic snarls and chaos in the day to day life. Thus, people are advised to take adequate measures and precautions to avoid struggling with the chaotic situation."

"These spells would, in turn, be responsible for triggering the arrival of Southwest Monsoon which is anticipated by June 8," it added.

Rains poured over south Mumbai, eastern and western suburbs and in many areas of adjoining Raigad, Thane, Ratnagiri and Palghar districts yesterday.

Waterlogging was reported in some parts of the city and suburbs, leading to huge traffic snarls on the two highways and other roads in the city and suburbs.

At Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, at least nine incoming flights of different airlines were diverted to other airports like Ahmedabad on account of congestion at Mumbai and inclement weather conditions.
Local train services were slowed down owing to some technical glitches on the harbour line of Central Railway.

Power outages were reported in some parts of Thane besides trees falling in the strong winds lashing adjoining areas like Ambernath amd Thane.