Monsoon arrives, kills one in Mumbai

The south-west monsoon, which entered Mumbai and its suburbs in the early hours of Friday, claimed the life of a girl even as it brought the much-needed respite to the people.

The victim has been identified as Sonali Chavan, a resident of Patilari village in Wada. She was killed after a wall collapsed on her in the far western suburbs in the Palghar district.

The commercial capital may be heading for a wet weekend. The Regional Meteorological
Observatory of the IMD has forecast rain or thundershowers for the next 48 hours.

In the last 24 hours, the Colaba observatory recorded 24.4 mm rainfall while Santacruz observatory recorded 82.2 mm rain.

Weathermen said that besides Mumbai, Palghar, Thane and Raigad districts, the entire coastal Konkan belt has received rainfall.

The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai said there were no traffic snarls in Mumbai but there were reports of waterlogging in some places.

Meanwhile, in Kerala, the south-west monsoon returned to active mode  with parts of Ernakulam and northern districts recording heavy rainfall since the latter half of Thursday.

A daily bulletin from the Meteorological Centre in Thiruvananthapuram said three stations – Kochi airport, Kakkanad near Kochi and Manjeswaram – recorded 9 cm rainfall each.

Aluva and Thodupuzha in Ernakulam district and Kannur recorded 7 cm rainfall each. The south-west monsoon hit Kerala on June 5, six days after its originally scheduled onset.

Deficient rainfall
According to figures compiled by the Met Centre during the first 10 days of June, the state has recorded 56 per cent less rains than what is classified is normal for the period. Kerala recorded 84.2 mm rainfall between June 1 and 10 against the long period average of 192.3 mm.

The figures cover only a short, early part of the four-month monsoon period but could also be indicative of what has been predicted as a season of deficient rainfall across the country.

Between March 1 and May 31, the state received pre-monsoon rainfall that was 22 per cent more than normal rainfall for the period.