Heavy rains disrupt life in Mumbai, millions hit (Roundup)

MUMBAI - Millions of people were affected as heavy rains for a second day Tuesday flooded roads and rail tracks and forced schools and offices to shut in India’s business capital Mumbai.

Authorities evacuated 140 persons from the banks of the flooded Mithi River in Kurla, an eastern suburb as heavy downpour crippled normal life, inundating large parts of the city.

According to a civic official, the authorities resorted to the precautionary measure after the river crossed the three-metre danger mark. Water gushed into the surrounding areas of Kurla’s Baill Bazaar and Krantinagar slums.

A disaster management team was stationed in the area since the afternoon with an ambulance, a speedboat, fire engines and relevant personnel to tackle any emergency during the night.

The city recorded 33 mm rainfall since 8.30 a.m., while the suburbs notched 145.5 mm rainfall, the met office said.

Since Monday (till today morning), the city received 120 mm rains and the suburbs 148 mm rainfall.

The forecast for the next two days is heavy to very heavy rains in Mumbai and surrounding areas.

Millions of office-goers had a harrowing time going to offices and returning home while schools remained shut, reviving memories of Mumbai floods of 2005.

The rains, accompanied by stormy winds uprooted 27 trees in the city and suburbs, causing traffic blockades and hampering public movement.

Massive road traffic jams were witnessed in several areas of south Mumbai like Churchgate, Marine Drive, Mahim Causeway, the Eastern Express Highway and Western Express Highway, S.V. Road in Bandra, Andheri and Borivli.

Air traffic to and from Mumbai was also badly hit due to poor visibility most of the day, heavy rains and strong winds.

A spokesman for Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) said during the day, there were departure delays of average 45 minutes while arrivals were late by 20-30 minutes.

“Till today evening, as many as 120 flights, 85 departures and 35 arrivals delayed, and 10 flights circled airport awaiting landing permission,” the spokesman said. However, there were no cancellations.

The visibility at the airport, which had reduced to barely 600 metres at one point during the day, improved upto 2,200 metres by the evening.

Waterlogging on the railway tracks compelled the Central Railway (CR) to stop services completely on the suburban sections between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and Thane, and the Harbour Line for over two hours, from 1.30 p.m.

The services resumed around 3.30 pm but there were delays of over 30 minutes in the train services. The Western Railway (WR) also reported delays ranging from 30-45 minutes during the day.

The BEST public transport chipped in by deploying more than 120 extra buses to clear off the commuters stranded in different parts owing to disruption in suburban train services.

Several roads in Mumbai went underwater for hours in places like Dadar, Matunga, Charni Road, Girgaum, Sion, Santacruz, Khar, Juhu, Andheri, Vile Parle, Kandivli, Malad, Byculla, Mazagaon, Wadala, Vikhroli, Kurla and Ghatkopar.

Following SOS calls by the affected residents, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) deployed 157 water pumps to flush out extra water from the flooded areas while senior officials personally manned the relief efforts.

This was the third time in the past 10 days that Mumbaikars bore the brunt of monsoon rains.

The situation was equally dismal in surrounding Thane, Raigad and Ratnagiri districts where heavy rains caused havoc with normal life of people.

The highways linking Mumbai with Pune, Nashik, Goa and Ahmedabad witnessed massive traffic jams due to heavy en route.