Life in Mumbai was thrown out of gear yesterday as the city received the heaviest rainfall of the season and the third heaviest one-day rainfall in September in a decade.

Local trains were cancelled or delayed, major roads got submerged and citizens returning home got stranded either at work or on roads and in trains.

The authorities blamed at least two fatalities and six casualties on the unremitting showers.Between 8.30am and 8.30pm on Monday, the meteorological department said, Colaba got 79.2mm of rain and Santa Cruz 148.9mm.

The earlier record of this monsoon was recorded at Colaba on August 29 --  91mm. In September 2005, Mumbai had received 223.3mm of rain in a 24-hour period and in the same month in 2009 a little more than 160mm.

The department has predicted "heavy to very heavy" rainfall on Tuesday. Levels in the six major lakes that supply water to the city rose appreciably.

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In pictures: Rains hit road, rail traffic