A BEST bus stranded in the Malad subway on Tuesday night.

MUMBAI: The city experienced yet another intense downpour, the second time this season, receiving almost as much rain over Tuesday and Wednesday as it usually does in an entire month.

Data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) indicated that over 24 hours starting 8.30am on September 19, Mumbai recorded about 304 mm of rainfall, just shy of the 312mm average set for the entire month of September—which means it rained in one day almost as much as it usually does over a month!

The sudden force of this spell was apparent from the fact that it was the second wettest September day in IMD’s over 100-year recorded history. “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) has said that owing to climate change we’ll keep seeing such heavy rain over short intervals,” said Prof Kapil Gupta of IIT, referring to the extreme nature of the phenomenon.

The impact was mostly felt in the western suburbs like Andheri, Borivli, Dahisar, Dindoshi, where many streets were under water, especially those adjoining subways connecting eastern and western parts. Amruta Deshpande of Thakur village in Kandivli (E) described the situation as chaotic.

But rail and road transport were unaffected as traffic was thin owing to the government’s proactive decision to shut down schools and colleges. The continuing spell of heavy downpour accompanied by gusty winds caused waterlogging in unexpected localities on Wednesday. Not just the usual low-lying areas of Khar and Kalina, even parts of western suburbs such as Dahisar, Marol and Bandra that rarely report waterlogging were submerged in knee-deep waters.

Considering that few Mumbaikars ventured out, the BMC was able to clear the flooded stretches faster. It deployed around 35,000 staffers on the streets to tackle the situation.

Waterlogging was reported on Andheri-Kurla Road below Airport Road metro station at Marol, S V Road in Khar, and Nutan Nagar, St Paul’s Road and St Francis Road in Bandra. A BMC official from Malad blamed “high intensity” rain for waterlogging in these parts.



In Video: Mumbai receives second heaviest September rain in over a century