Monsoon mayhem: South Bombay sees wettest July; house collapse, tree falls claim 8 lives

MUMBAI: As persistent showers broke a five-decade-old record in the island city amid unusually strong winds across Mumbai, a tragedy struck Mankhurd late Sunday when a four-storey structure collapsed onto an adjoining shanty, killing 6 people, including five children, and injuring one woman. Munaf (7), Aliya (7), Muskan (14), Nihal (6), Nabiya (2) and Soni (32) were rushed to two hospitals, where they were declared brought dead. Four of the deceased belonged to one family, said sources. During the day, 203 tree collapses were reported across the city. Two such tree falls caused deaths: an 18-year-old biker from Sakinaka was killed by a tree branch in Aarey Colony Saturday night, and a 63-year-old BKC resident was killed by a branch while opening his shop in Kurla Sunday morning. Last week, a 11-year-old boy died after a tree fell on his school van in Chembur. As wind speeds crossed 70kmph in the island city and 75kmph in suburbs like Bandra-they typically touch up to 30-40kmph during active monsoon conditions-flight operations were affected at the city airport Sunday. 5 kids among Mankhurd victims The continuous rainfall led to Colaba logging its wettest July day in over 50 years at 265. 6mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending 8. 30am Sunday. The previous high was 417. 2mm on July 31, 1975. IMD's Santacruz observatory-Mumbai's benchmark-recorded 227. 7mm, its second-highest 24-hour rainfall for the month in five years. IMD has issued an orange alert predicting heavy rain for Monday. Consequently, a holiday has been declared for schools and colleges across MMR. Mumbai records triple-digit rain for 5th day in row The city witnessed triple-digit rains in the last five days, with July 4-5 recording the highest rainfall so far since the monsoon’s arrival. Since July 1, Santacruz has logged 805.6 mm rain till Sunday night, or around 94% of average monthly rain of 855.7 mm, while Colaba exceeded its July average of 734.1 mm and touched 744.2 mm. With IMD forecasting another spell of heavy rain on Monday and issuing an orange alert for Mumbai, meteorologists said the city could achieve its average rainfall for the entire month within the next two to three days. Rains are expected to ease mostly by July 8 when a moderate rain forecast has been issued. All through Sunday, heavy rain continued to lash most areas of the city, with the Colaba and Santacruz observatories recording 49mm and 66mm of rain in the 12 hours ending 8. 30pm. Other parts of MMR, too, saw intense rain activity over the weekend. Belapur received its highest single-day rainfall of the season at 303mm, leading to lowlying areas being submerged and traffic snarls. Navi Mumbai on average logged 210. 76mm, Thane 184. 66mm, Ambernath 186mm, Ulhasnagar 168mm, Murbad 137mm, Bhiwandi 129mm, Kalyan 101mm and Shahapur 78mm in the 12 hours ending 8. 30pm. Vasai recorded 179mm and Palghar 273mm. Of the four monsoon months, July is the wettest, having crossed the 1,000mm mark most years.