Rain showers woes on Mumbai

IMD upgrades orange alert to red

- PRATAP ACHARYA & NAYONIKA BOSE

TWO DAYS AFTER hitting Kerala ahead of schedule, the southwest monsoon marked an early arrival in Mumbai on Monday — the earliest recorded onset in at least the past 75 years.

With some parts of the city recording over 200 mm of rainfall between Sunday midnight and Monday afternoon, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) upgraded its forecast to a "red alert", warning of heavy rainfall with thunderstorms and gusty winds in Mumbai as well as the neighboring districts of Thane, Raigad and Ratnagiri.

The light to moderate showers in the city over the weekend intensified to a heavy downpour over Sunday night. As it continued to rain through the day, suburban train services as well as road traffic were hit with several areas of the city reporting water-logging. Operations on a Metro line were suspended after an underground station was inundated with water.