102.6Mm In 3 Hrs: City Gets Highest-Ever May Rainfall

[manjunath455]

PUNE: Wednesday's pre-monsoon downpour washed away an 87-year-old all-time record for maximum rainfall in a day in the month of May in Pune and threw rail and road traffic out of gear, besides causing heavy waterlogging across the city. 

India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials attributed the 102.6 mm rainfall between 5.30 pm and 8.30 pm to local heating the maximum temperature has been around or even above 40 degrees celsius for two weeks now -that caused moisture incursion from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. The "easterly wave activity amplifying in the region" also increased the moisture incursion, they said. The waterlogging across the city exposed the civic body's lack of preparedness for monsoon that is less than a month away. 

On May 31, 1927, the city had received 82.5mm of rain, the highest until Wednesday, according to IMD data on the 24-hour-highest May rainfall. Even the total rainfall for the month of May as recorded over a decade has been nowhere close to Wednesday's rain. The average total monthly rainfall for May is around 40.6 mm.



IMD has forecast more rain in the city till May 16, as well as some more spells on May 19. It has also forecast thunderstorms with squalls and hailstorms at isolated places over Central Maharashtra and Marathwada on May 15. 

GP Sharma, vice-president, meteorology, Skymet Weather Services, said, "The pre-monsoon activity in Pune generally increases each year in May. But Wednesday's rain was by far the highest daily rainfall in May ever." 

He added, "There are also plenty of hot spots (places that have high convective heating) in Central Maharashtra right from Nashik and Pune to further southward like Sangli and Satara.Convective heating has a potential to cause hail and thundershowers." 

Technical fault at Dapodi stalls trains 

Lonavla-Pune train services were disrupted for nearly two hours on Wednesday evening after the signaling system faced major technical faults near Dapodi due to heavy rain. Trains coming from Mumbai were also affected and services partially resumed late evening.

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[manjunath455]

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