Rain, waterlogging halts trains, traffic

Schoolchildren cross a waterlogged area in Dadar. Pic/Ashish Raje

Mumbai was brought to a standstill for some time on Friday due to heavy rain and the resultant waterlogging in some parts of the city, which caused traffic snarls on the roads. Meanwhile, the Harbour Line was stopped for some time and rail traffic on the Central Railway line was delayed by 10-15 minutes.

According to the BMC monsoon report, heavy to very heavy rainfall occurred in Mumbai city and its suburbs from noon to 3 pm, during which there was also a 4.21-metre-high tide at 2.27 pm. There were complaints of waterlogging in some low-lying places in the city and suburbs, the report stated. As per information provided by the traffic police, the Andheri subway was flooded with up to three feet of water in the afternoon, causing traffic to be diverted.

Flooding in Milan subway, Santacruz. Pic/Aishwarya Deodhar

According to locals, several areas, including Hindmata, Sion road number 24, Kings Circle, Veera Desai Road (Andheri) and Vikhroli West, witnessed waterlogging. Additionally, there were complaints in Ghatkopar East, Andheri-Chakala Road, Dadar TT and some parts of Bandra. Traffic had to be diverted from Sion road number 24 and Hindmata and Shell Colony road in Chembur. There were complaints of 14 tree falls.

Meanwhile, civic chief I S Chahal visited Hindmata and the Andheri subway to take stock of the situation. "Our officials are on the roads. People should not believe in rumours. There has been heavy rain in Mumbai after 12 noon. At present, there are predictions of heavy to very heavy rain in isolated areas of the city. Citizens are requested to leave their homes only if necessary," he said. According to Chahal, 300 dilapidated buildings have already been vacated by civic officials. "There are 125 buildings remaining, of which the residents of 95 obtained a stay order from the court. We are vaccinating the remaining 30 buildings," he said.

Commuters waiting for trains crowd CSMT. Pic/Sameer Abedi

Meteorologists have predicted the monsoon will remain active over the Konkan region, including Mumbai and adjoining areas that might see heavier rains. The India Meteorological Department on Friday upgraded the alert for Mumbai on July 22 to ‘orange' (heavy to very heavy rain). Neighbouring Thane, Raigad and Ratnagiri too are on orange alert, while Palghar and Pune remain on red alert with prediction of extremely heavy rain in isolated places, as per IMD's forecast.

Meteorologists from private weather forecaster Skymet Weather Services, predicted slightly heavier rains than on Friday can be expected in Mumbai as well as other parts of Konkan. According to Skymet, "The reason for the current rain can be attributed to the remnant of the earliest system coming closer. The low pressure is in the Bay of Bengal and an east-west trough joining these two systems has created a shear zone running across 20°N, from North Central Maharashtra to central Odisha. The shear zone is tilting southward with height. Mumbai is in the proximity of this zone, which may give more rain on Saturday."

Traffic had to be diverted from the Hindmata area in Dadar. Pic/Ashish Raje

Meanwhile, Rajesh Kapadia of the Vagaries of the Weather blog, said, "Mumbai has already received 937 mm of rain up to 8.30 am on Friday, more than the usual amount for this month or the monthly average for July. It has been raining with different intensities continuously this month. This is the result of the system over North Konkan, which refused to fizzle out as predicted, and the fresh low coming from the Bay of Bengal forming a trough line. This trough is getting close to Mumbai. Brace for more rain tomorrow." As per the IMD, from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm on Friday, the Santacruz and Colaba observatories recorded 115.2 mm and 92.2 mm of rain respectively.

CR stops, WR runs, BEST slows down

Traffic on the Central Railway came to a halt for some time due to waterlogging at Kurla station. Train operations between Mankhurd and Wadala on the down harbour line were also suspended from 2.45 pm to 3.10 pm as a precautionary measure.

"Train operations on other corridors remained unaffected by the heavy rain. The trains were running 20-30 minutes late," a CR spokesperson said. "Suburban services on the Main Line between the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Kasara, and CSMT to Khopoli were running normally, along with services on the trans-harbour line between Thane-Vashi/Panvel and the Belapur-Kharkopar line," he added.

Western Railway services slowed down and were delayed, but at no point were suspended. BEST buses plying on the roads in Sion, Hindmata and Chembur were diverted to alternative routes. "Due to waterlogging at Sion road number 24, buses of routes 341, 312, 7, 22, 25, 302, 352, 411 and C10 are diverted via Sion Circle road number 3. Similarly, buses on Shell Colony Chembur routes (355, 357 and 360) are diverted via Chembur Naka," a BEST spokesperson said.