Heavy downpour coupled with high tide derails life in Mumbai

MUMBAI: Mumbai was once again soaked and water-lo-gg-ed on Tuesday as incessant rains coincided with high tide. The city may not get a respite from the wet spell any time soon as the meteorological department has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall over the next 60 hours. Till 8.30pm on Tuesday, Colaba had recorded 84.6mm of rainfall whereas Santa Cruz got 142.2mm. Other areas in the city that received heavier rainfall in 12 hours included Bhan-dup; it topped the list at 151.7mm. Wadala at 140.2 mm, Kurla 133.9mm, Dadar 132.9mm and Bandra 132.6mm followed closely. The average rainfall received by the island city was 96mm in the 12-hour period. The eastern suburbs recorded 108mm whereas western suburbs received 88mm in the same period. What added to the woes as tide as high as 4.88 metres at 12:48pm, which led to water-logging. Mumbai has already seen about 10 days of heavy to very heavy rainfall this season. According to the Indian Meteorological Department, multiple climatic conditions have been contributing to the current spell of downpour. "In the past four days, there have been very strong pressure gradients over the west coast," said V K Rajeev, director of weather forecast at IMD, Mumbai. The pressure gradient is a physical quantity that describes which direction and at what rate the pressure changes most rapidly around a particular location. "These pressure gradients have caused very strong westerly winds. Moreover, a low pressure area has formed over Bay of Bengal, which has further strengthened the westerly winds. The winds, in turn, are responsible for heavy rainfall in the region," said Rajeev. According to the weather bureau, heavy rainfall is likely at a few places, while very heavy rainfall can be expected at isolated pl-a-ces over the Konkan and Goa region (including Greater Mu-mbai) in the next 60 hours. "Though we have given a heavy rainfall warning for the next 60 hours, we do keep revising the forecast every 12 hours," said Rajeev. On Wednesday, Mumbaikars may face another round of water-logging. The tide levels are going to be 4.95-metre high at 1:27pm. If it rains heavily in the morning, low-lying areas may flood once again.   TOI