Daily life came to a standstill in Mumbai after the city witnessed heavy rainfall disrupting suburban railway services. Many services had to be cancelled as commuters struggled to reach their offices. The rainfall once again reminded people of 26th July floods which has thrown normal life out of gear. Waterlogging was reported in areas like Sion, Matunga, Parel, Wadala, Andheri and Ghatkopar. The civic body has asked people to stay indoors unless it is necessary.
Joint Municipal Commissioner S S Shinde said “We appeal to Mumbaikars not to venture into the sea and stay away from the coastline area as a high tide has been predicted.”
The Regional Meteorological Centre, Mumbai, on Tuesday predicted intermittent rain with heavy rain fall in parts of the city and extremely heavy rainfall at one or two places in the city and suburbs. Mumbai, is staring at its worst flood, the one that hit it in 2005, with heavy rains leaving many parts of the city swamped.
Three teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), stationed in Mumbai, have been put on alert and two additional teams have been moved from Pune to Mumbai.
Among the stretches affected the most were Eastern Freeway south-bound, B Ambedkar Road and Western Express Highway at Kherwadi. While the officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that they have received only two complaints of water logging at Sion and Andheri subway, citizens complained of water logging in areas like Sion, Matunga, parts of Dadar, Hindmata, Wadala, Ghatkopar, Andheri and Mulund. Many took to twitter to register complaints and warn others of the water logged areas.
Hindmata -High tide of 3.32 meters height occurred.
The Colaba weather bureau, which covers south Mumbai, recorded 152 mm of rain between Monday and Wednesday mornings, the highest 24-hour rainfall this year, met officials said.
The Santacruz weather station, representative of the suburbs, recorded 88.4mm during the same period.
Officials said the incessant rain over Monday night and Tuesday have severely affected the city’s lifeline, the suburban railway services. More than 70 lakh commuters use the city’s suburban railway services daily. By afternoon, the Central railway services were running over an hour late due to waterlogging on the tracks. Western railway had to shut its services at Bandra due to waterlogging.
Various areas in north Konkan also recorded heavy to very heavy rain in the last 24 hours with Alibaug recording 161 mm and adjoining regions of Dahanu and Harnai also recording three digit figures.
Navi Mumbai too received 119.85 mm rain in the past 24 hours.
Between 8.30am and 5.30pm, the Colaba weather station, representative of south Mumbai, recorded 124.6 mm of rain, but the Santacruz weather station, representative of the suburbs and Mumbai, received only 33.2 mm of rain. The second highest rainfall in South Mumbai was recorded between June 12 and on June 13 (24 hours). The previous highest nine-hour rainfall was 63.4mm on June 25. Between 8.30am on Sunday and 8.30am on Monday, both Santacruz and Colaba recorded 60mm of rainfall.
Under the weather department’s classification, 15.6mm to 64.4mm of rain is considered ‘moderate’, 64.5mm to 115.5mm ‘heavy’, 115.6mm to 204.4mm ‘very heavy’, and more than 204.5mm ‘extreme’.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said part of north Konkan, including Mumbai, will receive very heavy to extremely heavy rain until Wednesday. Weather models have shown that Mumbai and surrounding areas can expect almost 200mm of rainfall between Tuesday and Wednesday. The entire Konkan coast can expect very heavy to extremely heavy rain.
Vidarbha, Marathwada, central Maharashtra, south Gujarat and south Konkan can expect heavy rain.
Mumbai is just 314.5mm short of its annual average rainfall of 2,258 mm.
Train services been affected due to the intermittent rainfall
Heavy rains have affected Mumbai’s life line, the suburban railway services. By afternoon, the Central railway services on the central and harbour line were shut down owing to water logging along the tracks in GTB Nagar, Sion and Kurla. The Western railway shut its services at Bandra, as water logging caused a point failure at this station. Commuters going ahead towards the city will now have to make their way on the roads.
Several local trains plying on Western Railways have been cancelled due to the rains. Waterlogging incidents were reported in all railway tracks, trains at central railway mainline are plying with a delay of 30 minutes.
An outstation train derailment near Mumbai has also led to suburban trains running late on the central line. The total delay on central line services is now 30 minutes, while on the Harbour line trains are running 10 to 15 minutes slow and on the Western Line, trains are delayed by 10 minutes.
On Tuesday morning, Nagpur-Mumbai Duronto Express derailed in Maharashtra’s Asangaon. The railway authorities said that prima facie inputs suggest that the train derailed due to a major landslide. The train derailment and the also the heavy rainfall have also delayed the local trains in Mumbai.
Movement of local trains was also affected after the Mumbai-bound Duronto Express derailed in Thane district; about 70 km from Mumbai impacting thousands of people who take the route to work and business daily. The weather department has predicted heavy rains to continue till Thursday. A number of subways, parks and gardens and playgrounds have been inundated by rainwaters. More than 70 lakh commuters use the city’s suburban railway services daily. The troubles for commuters will become manifold if the heavy rains continue.
Downpour has affected flight schedules to and from Mumbai leaving many stranded
Flights were diverted and movement of local trains was impeded due to the downpour. However, the city’s subways are not shut. The city has been experiencing a heavy downpour since Tuesday night and the BMC has issued warnings of high tide as well
Flights were delayed by at least 15-20 minutes from India’s second-busiest airport. There were 5 go arounds and 2 diversions till 11:30 am. All major airlines have advised flyers to enquire before heading to the airport. “Customers flying ex-BOM are advised to allow more time for their journey to airport. Congestion on roads expected due to heavy rains,” Vistara tweeted.
Indigo said,”Customers can check flight status on their website – goindigo.in – or SMS ST(space)flt no(space)date of travel as DDMM to 566772.”
The IMD on Tuesday issued a warning of heavy rainfall in central Maharashtra, especially in the northern Konkan region. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has also issued an alert about a high tide of 4.70 metres at 1521 hours.
In the 2005 Maharashtra floods, 1094 people died when many parts of Maharashtra flooded including parts of Mumbai.
It’s pouring down like anything, which reminds us of the term 2005 July rains which is now always used to refer to the day when the city of Mumbai came to a standstill due to flooding. By the way, the rains have reduced the monsoon deficit in Mumbai, Maharashtra and lakes supplying water to Mumbai are filled up. I hope farmers are happy now and we can expect good crops now! Just need to keep a watch on flooding, travel, high tides.
Traffic nightmare in Mumbai as city reels due to heavy rains train services affected
The seven lakes supplying water to the city are nearing the 100% mark. After heavy rain lashed most parts of the suburbs over the weekend, within a span of nine hours, south Mumbai recorded its highest rainfall this year. Heavy rain caused water-logging at several location in the city, complained citizens and corporators.
Casualties
Two children from New Panvel drowned in Gadi River near Panvel on Sunday. While rescue teams fished out one body on Monday morning, the other is yet to be traced. According to the police, Mayank Patil, 3, and Prathamesh Adsul, 6, lived in the same building at Sukhapur.
Incessant rainfall starting Monday evening has rendered parts of Mumbai inundated. The Indian Meteorological Depart-ment (IMD) has issued a warning saying that residents should expect heavy rainfall in Mumbai over the next three days. Many road accidents reported during rain fall.
Sea side tourism is banned for the moment, it is advised not to go towards water side. IMD officials have attributed the rains to upper-air cyclonic circulation over south Rajasthan and a low-pressure area which is moving westward from Odisha. An IMD official was quoted as saying, “There was widespread rainfall in the city and it will continue in a similar manner for next three days. The eastern suburbs of Mumbai received good rainfall as compared to other areas of the city. Commuters using the services faced a harrowing time with trains more congested than usual.
Ganesha Pandal’s look deserted
Due to heavy rains and commuting problems, this year Ganesh pandals received very less devotees and guests. A let up in rains as footfalls have dropped owing to the heavy downpour. Most pandals have secured their idols with tarpaulin covers. Footfalls have dropped along the Lalbaug-Parel belt. These days when the clouds let up, devotees come streaming back to see Ganesha. But as the downpour resumes, the queues lessen.
KEM hospital gets flooded
Water entered the ground floor wards at KEM Hospital in Parel as 30 patients had to be relocated. Patients had to be moved to the upper floors from the flooded lower level wards. Several patients who had come in the hospital for seeking medical assistance remain stranded inside the premises.
“We have already moved about 30 patients from ground floor to upper floors. We are taking all measures to ensure patients aren’t inconvenienced,” said Dr Avinash Supe, Dean of KEM Hospital.
