Nothing unusual; we had warned of landslides, says a coy IMD

The India Meteorological Department IMD on Sunday blamed a ldquosudden development of intense convective cloudsrdquo for its delayed warning on the devastating rainfall in the city on Saturday night and Sunday morning An IMD official said ldquoBut there is nothing unusual about this kind of rainfall Every year in July and August the entire Konkan belt receives heavy to very heavy rainfall We had indicated in our forecast that landslides and mudslides were likely to occurrdquoMumbai started receiving heavy to very heavy rainfall from 1030 pm on Saturday However the IMD issued a forecast only at 1230 am on Sunday warning that intense to very intense spells of rainfall were ldquovery likely to occur in the districts of Mumbai during the next three hoursrdquoWaterlogging at S B Barve Road Kurla on SundayAn IMD official said ldquoThere was definitely a timely prediction and a red alert was issued on Saturday night We had indicated it in both our alert at 1230 am and impactbased forecast However the situation changed with the development of intense convective clouds over Mumbai on Saturday night which caused the heavy to very heavy rainfall This was indicated in our nowcast alertrdquoThe official added ldquoThis kind of weather is likely to prevail for the next five days Extremely heavy rainfall cannot happen everywhere only at isolated placesrdquoMeanwhile the IMD has issued an orange alert for five days starting Monday The official said that Mumbaikars can expect heavy to very heavy rainfall over the next few days ldquoPeople must remain careful There is also a risk of inundation when high tide coincides with heavy rainfallrdquoAlso read Mumbai Heavy rain gets their goat traders forced to reduce pricesFrom yellow to red alert in 3 hoursEven though heavy rain had started pelting the city by 10 pm on Saturday the Regional Meteorological Centre Mumbai put out a tweet at 1032 pm stating that ldquomoderate to intense spells of rainrdquo were expected along with gusty winds thunderstorms and lightning very likely to occur in Raigad Mumbai Thane Palghar and Ratnagiri within the next 34 hoursIt was only at 1 am that the weather department put out a yellow alert stating that there was ldquoheavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with the possibility of thunderlightning and gusty windsrdquo Unfortunately by this time the intense spells of rainfall were already wreaking havoc across the cityBy 3 am the IMD had upgraded it from yellow to a red alertAt 330 am the weather department put out its nowcast warning finally stating that ldquointense to very intense spells were very likely to occur at isolated placesrdquo in the Thane Raigad Palghar Mumbai greater intensity towards the northern part of suburbs during the next three hoursBMC blames IMDThe BMC too had put out its firstever warning tweet piggybacking on IMDrsquos 1230 am nowcast warning but by then the loss to life and property was already done Several civic officials called out IMDrsquos lax forecasting on news channels on Sunday stating that they did not have enough time to prepareCity inundated over weekendOver 200 mm rainfall was recorded in five hours in the limits of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC between 11 pm on Saturday and 4 am on Sunday This led to Vihar Lake overflowing on SundayThe highest rainfall of 22682 mm was recorded by the automatic weather station at Dahisar Fire Station in R North ward Other rain levels include 21845 mm in Chembur 20649 mm in Kandivli 20269 mm in Borivli 20193 mm in Fort and 2004 mm in G South area WorlildquoRain has been heavy in the city since the night of Saturday July 18 It was raining continuously till 4 am on Sunday All the systems of BMC 24 divisional offices the Main Emergency Control Room and 25 Assistant Control Rooms and the Mumbai Fire Brigade worked continuously through the night All major and suburban hospitals of the corporation were also instructed to be ready for necessary actionrdquo said a civic officialDuring the approximately 10hour heavy rain period 44235 crore litres of water was pumped into the sea through BMCrsquos 6 pumping stations greatly helping in the drainage of rainwater in Mumbai said officialsThere were 31 waterlogging spots recorded in the city and civic officials claimed the water receded in the morningApart from the three major wall and house collapses that totally killed 32 people there were eight other collapses fortunately there were no casualties The incessant rain caused 13 short circuit incidents killing one person At nine places there were reports of branches fallingThe Vihar Lake started overflowing on Sunday at 9 am Last year it had started overflowing on August 5 at around 1000 pmTransport almost at a standstill Public transport almost halted early Sunday morning leaving many people affected but normalised later Railway services were down but were restored by 11amAbout 24 BEST buses were submerged across the city but by 3pm on Sunday all had been towed awayThe BEST spokesperson said another 10 buses were stranded due to technical issues and were attended to According to the the 330 pm update on Sunday roads with bus routes were flooded at 37 locations leading to diversions and detentions