Late starter: Mumbai receives more rain in 12 hours than in last fortnight

Waterlogged railway track near Kurla MUMBAI: Strong rain lashed the city on Wednesday, bringing citizens much-needed respite from the heatwave. The suburbs were the bigger beneficiary than the island city. While the Colaba weather station recorded 17.2mm of rain from 8.30am to 8.30pm, the Santa Cruz weather station registered 180.8mm, which was double the volume it had logged thus far during the monsoon. Weather officials confirmed that Wednesday was the wettest day of the season. Until 8.30am on Wednesday, Colaba station had recorded 80mm rain and the Santa Cruz station 100.7mm. The next 12 hours made a big difference, particularly in the suburbs. K S Hosalikar, deputy director general of meteorology at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Mumbai, said, "We had forecasted moderate rain. On Wednesday, drizzling, followed by intermittent showers, brought in a significant change in the weather. Rain is expected over the next 24 hours. They will continue for longer if such weather systems sustain." The showers brought down the temperatures by a few degrees. On Tuesday, the maximum temperature recorded at Colaba and Santa Cruz station was 33 degrees celsius and 33.6 degrees celsius respectively. On Wednesday, the respective recordings were 27 degrees celsius and 27.5 degrees celsius. Normally, Mumbai gets an average of 604.2mm rain till July 2. But this year has been dismal and a large deficiency remains. "There was widespread rain on July 2, which is a good sign. We are hoping the weather systems will stay this strong in the coming days. We are closely monitoring the situation," said Hosalikar. TOI