City has already got 57% of season’s rain quota


Mumbai: It has been pouring in Mumbai, if the weather bureau’s figures are any indication. Barely weeks into the monsoon season, the Met office stats show the city has already received 57% of the season’s total rainfall. According to officials, since the first week of June, Mumbai has received an average rainfall of 1,300 mm.
    The BMC, however, maintained that the city has received only 49% of its quota of rains. The weather bureau estimates that Mumbai receives an average of 2,294 mm annual rainfall in four months. According to its data, the city has received 1,387.2 mm so far, which is 67% of the season’s rainfall, while the suburbs have got around 1,212.9 mm, which is 48%. The combined average for the city and the suburbs for June-July is 57%.
    The BMC data pegs it lower, but even its estimate is close to half the rains the city should receive in an average year. The island city, according to the civic body, has received 1,141.32 mm rainfall, the eastern suburbs 1,188.24 mm and the western suburbs 1,024.24 mm—the average being around 49%. “Because of the slight variation in our data and that of the IMD, we maintain that we have received 50% of the season’s rainfall,’’ said an official from the disaster management cell monitoring the rainfall data.
Monsoon Index
Mumbai receives an average rainfall of 2,294 mm annually It rained over 100 mm on June 14, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24 and 25 and July 3
In 2009, the city only received an average rainfall of 1026.15 mm
In 2005, Mumbai saw the highest average rain of approximately 3,000 mm City got over 100 mm of rainfall on 9 days
Mumbai: While the city has already seen 57% of its season’s rains this year, last year, Mumbai had received a total average rainfall of 1026.15 mm. The highest average rainfall (approximately 3,000 mm) was in 2005 when Mumbai witnessed its worst ever floods on July 26.
    Significantly, the maximum quantum of rainfall this year was received on nine days. It rained over 100 mm for eight days in June and on July 3.
    On June 18, the Hindmata area saw 93.22 mm rainfall in one hour between 5 and 6 pm. With storm-water drains in the area still equipped to handle only 25 mm rainfall per hour, traffic had to be diverted in the area on four occasions following waterlogging. Colaba in the island city and Dahisar in the western suburbs received
over 100 mm rains on four days in June.
    The city has two lakes that provide drinking water—the Tulsi in the National Park and the Vihar at Powai. Tulsi is approximately eight metres below the overflow mark while Vihar is around seven metres below the level. The bulk of the city’s water supply comes from four lakes outside Mumbai. The water from the Powai lake is used only for industrial purposes.

 
SPELLS OF CHEER

Source: Times of India,13th July 2010, Tuesday.