After a day of respite, the island city of Mumbai and its suburbs once again bore the brunt of the current monsoon, as the heavy rains lashed most parts of the metropolis intermittently slowing down the road and rail traffic.
In is forecast for the next 48 hours, the Mumbai-based Regional Meteorological Centre has predicted that there would be intermittent rain or showers in the city and its suburbs, while there would be heavy rainfall in some of the areas.
With no let up in rains, the Island city registered a rainfall of 66.8 mm during 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Sunday, while the suburbs received a rainfall of 130.6 mm during the same period. Though the figures of rainfall received by the city and suburbs during the day were not available, the authorities said that the downpour that the metropolis experienced on Sunday was more severe than the one received on Saturday.
On a day when the Regional Meteorological Centre asked fishermen along the Konkan-Goa coast not to venture into the choppy Arabian Sea for he next couple of days, many parts of Maharashtra reeled under a wet spell.
Because of active monsoon conditions and winds, cautionary signal no. 3 has been hoisted in all ports between Dahanu and Marmugao.
There were reports of inundation Chiplun town in Ratnagiri district in coastal Konkan region and Bhamragad taluka of Gadchiroli district in Vidarbha region.
According to reports, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli districts in eastern Maharashtra received heavy rainfall during the past 24, leading to several parts of the two districts being inundated under water.
Reports said that more than 100 villages in Bhamragad taluka in Gadchiroli district, which received over 200 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours, remained marooned owing to heavy flooding. Not wanting to take any chances, the authorities cut off supply in some of the affected areas.
The adjoining Chandrapur district received over 300 mm rainfall during the last 36 hours, while Ratnagiri and Raigad districts in coastal Konkan region.
Chiplun town in Ratnagiri accounted for 223 mm rainfall during the last 24 hours. There were reports that rain water entered several shops in Chiplun
Meanwhile suburban trains on the three railway networks in Mumbai – the Central Railway, Harbour line and Western Railkway –ran 15 to 30 minutes behind the scheduled. Being a Sunday, a majority of Mumbaikars stayed indoors during the day.
In a related development, one Dubai-Pune flight had to be diverted to Mumbai, while two flights to Mumbai and Pune, arriving from Bangalore and another from Bangkok arrived 15 minutes behind the schedule.