Mumbai/New Delhi: Mumbai was waterlogged with unrelenting monsoon showers for the second consecutive day even as North India awaited rains with power crisis worsening. However, the wait was over for the residents of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday. Heavy rainfall was reported from Lucknow, Barabanki, Unnao and Faizabad.
Mumbai residents woke up to the second consecutive day of intermittent heavy rains on Thursday. The temperature has dipped to a cool 26 degrees Celsius. The suburbs in particular received heavy rainfall in the last 24 hours with Bandra receiving 117 mm and Vikhroli 103 mm. Dharavi, Dadar and Kurla have each received more than 90 mm of rainfall.
Constant pouring has also led to waterlogging in several areas like Sion, Dadar, Hindmata, Vakola and Parel. Trains on the western line were running between 10 and 15 minutes late.
However, there is no rain yet in North India. India's largest dam, the Bhakra Nangal, has reached a critical level and there is a similar situation at seven reservoirs in the North. This has worsened the power situation further with major outages across Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
The Bhakra Beas Management Board will hold an emergency meeting with partnering states including Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Sources say the water inflow at Bhakra Dam mainly depends on the melting of snow and this year, the required amount has not melted.
Also, the lack of rains in the Dam's catchment area has led to a further decrease in the water level. "If the rains do not come, the situation will worsen as we cannot increase the supply overnight. We have less fuel, less coal," said Ashok Khurana, Director General, Association of Power Producers.
Earlier on Wednesday Union Minister Ashwani Kumar said that parched North-West India, including the national capital, is expected to get rains over the next two days.
"The conditions are now favourable for the advance of the southwest monsoon," Kumar, Minister of State for Earth Sciences, said.
He said the southwest monsoon had advanced further into parts of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
Rain and thundershowers were expected over northwest India, including Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, in the next two days and the monsoon would reach the national capital in the next four-five days, Kumar said.
Asked why monsoon predictions were going wrong, Kumar admitted "there was a margin of error" in the forecasts.
Monsoon rains have been 30 per cent deficient so far and the weather office data showed 82 per cent of the area of the country, including the granary states of Punjab and Haryana, are receiving deficient or scanty rainfall.
The country as a whole had received 137.8 mm rainfall as against the normal of 197.7 mm since the onset of monsoon till Wednesday.
(With additional information from PTI)
