City panics at dawn but rain gods relent; expect thundershowers over the next 48 hours, says the Met department
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Thunder and lightning accompanied by lashing rain woke Mumbai from its slumber in the wee hours today. Thankfully, except for a few trees that had got uprooted and some flooded areas, the city was largely unaffected.
Visibility remained poor early this morning, across the city and its suburbs
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After the August 29 deluge that left half of Mumbai stranded on the roads, fearful citizens took to Twitter and Facebook to find out if a weather alert had been sounded.
The Andheri subway was submerged following the downpour
While most social media posts reflected the panic among citizens, a few took the opportunity to extend help in case of any untoward incident and urged people to remain safely inside their homes or offices. According to locals, several areas in Chembur and some pockets of Andheri were submerged by 3.30 am. Tree fall incidents were reported from across the city.
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BMC workers at the site where the thundershowers damaged a portion of the skywalk near Agarkar chowk, Andheri station junction
A BMC official said that their control room received countless calls from 3.30 am. "Most callers reported tree fall incidents Govandi and Chembur. Some callers also reported water-logging in some narrow roads. All 24 wards in the city were alerted at 3 am to be prepared for any emergency situations. It rained heavily, but it didn't last long," the official said.
Twitterati react to downpour
The fire control said that a total of 40 short circuit complaints were reported between 3 am and 7 am. "The thunderstorm subsided before sunrise. We were prepared for any eventuality," an official said.
A tree fell on an autorickshaw early this morning, injuring the driver, Chandrakant Madhavi, and completely destroying the vehicle. Pic/Shrikant Khuperkar
Incidentally, yesterday, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted a thundershower. "Thundershowers very likely to occur towards evening/night during the next 48 hours from Tuesday," the IMet department had stated on its portal.