268mm of rain in 24 hours stuns Maximum City

MUMBAI: The first heavy downpour of this monsoon jammed the wheels of Maximum City on Monday.
Mumbai received intense rainfall between 2.30am and 5.30am, even as IMD's Santacruz observatory recorded 268mm rain in a 24-hour period, the second highest July day rainfall in a decade. Some areas received more than 300mm, a third of the catastrophic downpour that had flooded Mumbai on July 26, 2005.
The total rainfall recorded by IMD Santacruz observatory this season so far is 734.8mm, of which almost 36% or more than one-third was on Sunday and Monday.
Inundated roads threw traffic off gear, trains came to a crawl along waterlogged tracks, and 26 flight arrivals and 24 departures were cancelled, while 27 arrivals were diverted to Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Indore.
One silver lining was a 4% increase in total water stock in lakes.
Schools and colleges were forced to call a holiday or close early. BMC and neighbouring civic bodies said schools and colleges will remain shut on Tuesday too.
CM Eknath Shinde took stock of the situation while the state assembly was adjourned for lack of quorum. Mantralaya allowed its staff to leave early as did other offices and establishments.