Severe Rainfall Alert: The wettest 24 hours since 2017, says BMC as rains continue to lash Mumbai

Despite July being wettest recorded month, August has witnessed unprecedented rain over the past 24 hours alone

The wettest 24 hours since 2017, says BMC as rains continue to lash Mumbai

A policeman assists people along a flooded road outside Wadala railway station on Tuesday. PIC/ASHISH RAJE

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The wettest 24 hours since 2017, says BMC as rains continue to lash Mumbai

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The city witnessed severe and widespread waterlogging on Tuesday morning, after receiving over 200 mm of rainfall in a short span of six hours, from 4 am to 10 am. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) analysis of Tuesday's rainfall pattern and the waterlogging experienced shows that just a few hours of unprecedented rain was responsible for the strain on infrastructure across the city. No untoward incidents were reported in Mumbai during this time.

In the 24 hours between Monday and Tuesday, the island city and eastern suburbs received 300 mm of rain, whereas the western suburbs received 361 mm. This is the highest recorded in 24 hours since 2017, when the city had received 420 mm rain. In the 10 hours between 8 am to 6 pm on Tuesday, Mumbai city reported 79.27 mm of rain, while the eastern suburbs reported 108.81 mm, and the western suburbs reported 115.92 mm.

So far this monsoon, the Colaba weather station has recorded 67.10 per cent of the average monsoon rainfall, at 1405.8 mm, while the Santacruz weather station has recorded 90.62 per cent of the average annual rainfall, amounting to 2102.8 mm. In the month of August alone, the Colaba weather station has recorded 482 mm of rainfall, and the Santacruz weather station recorded 533 mm. In the 24 hours till 5.30 pm on Tuesday, the Colaba weather station recorded 110.4 mm of rain, and the Santacruz weather station recorded 238.2 mm.

A senior civic official said, “Even though July is the wettest recorded month of the monsoon season, the month of August has reported unprecedented rainfall over the past 24 hours alone."

Widespread waterlogging was reported across the city, and many chronic waterlogging spots were inundated. Severe waterlogging was reported in Parel, Dadar, King’s Circle, Matunga in the city, in Andheri and Khar in the western suburbs, and in Vikhroli and Powai in the eastern suburbs.

1645 cr litres of water removed

In the past four days, BMC has pumped out 1645 crore litres of water from the city, with 525 dewatering pumps working at full capacity for a total of 761 hours. This amounts to more than double the storage capacity of Tulsi Lake — one of the seven that supply drinking water to Mumbai. Tulsi has a carrying capacity of 8046 million litres.

Hindmata choked again

The water holding ponds at Hindamata in Dadar East, with a capacity to hold 30,000 litres of water, were filled to full capacity by 10 am on Tuesday morning. Augmenting the drain capacity to tackle waterlogging at Hindamata as per the BRIMSTOWAD project will cost the BMC around Rs 600 crore.

New flooding spot

For the first time, the Malad Subway flooded this monsoon. The subway hadn’t witnessed an waterlogging during the last monsoon.

Rainfall in 24 hours (Till 5 pm on Tuesday)

Location Rainfall received

City-

Dadar - 300 mm

Wadala - 282 mm

Sion - 252 mm

Worli - 250 mm

Eastern suburbs

Chembur - 297 mm

Vikhroli - 293 mm

Powai - 290 mm

Mulund - 288 mm

Western suburbs

Versova - 240 mm

Chincholi - 361 mm

Kandivli - 337 mm

Dindoshi - 305 mm

Magathane - 304 mm

Incidents and Complaints

Short circuit 15

House Collapse 10

Tree collapse 49

Monsoon mayhem

Rain received in 24 hours-

City - 300 mm

Eastern suburbs - 300 mm

Western suburbs - 361 mm

- Mumbai received an average 200 mm of rain when waterlogging was reported on Tuesday morning. BMC's disaster management control room received 300 distress calls, mainly about water logging, breakdown of vehicles, traffic jams, and tree collapses

- In 2025, Mumbai's South West Monsoon has crossed its average, reaching 2193.2 mm of rain as against the average of 2101.8 mm. Tuesday's downpour was more intense than Monday’s, with the Santacruz observatory recording 163.4 mm of rain in the nine hours between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm — more than Monday’s 129.1 mm during the same time.

- IMD has issued an Orange alert for today, indicating some relief only from Thursday, when a yellow alert has been issued, signalling reduced intensity.