Monsoon revives with a bang in Mumbai, Konkan
Mumbai: After a weeklong lull, the monsoon revived with full force in Mumbai, coastal Konkan and other parts of Maharashtra, disrupting normal life for most of the day here on Wednesday.
Heavy rain continued to lash the city and suburbs since 1 a.m. and Mumbaikars woke up to the woes of waterlogging in many low-lying areas, flooded railway tracks and huge traffic snarls.
While there was no impact on flight operations at Mumbai airport, rail and road traffic were hit in the city, suburbs and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) due to waterlogging.
Office-goers and students alike were hit due to crawling traffic, besides suburban trains running late by 15-25 minutes on the Central Railway and minor delays on Western Railway.
Important roads in some parts of the city and suburbs like Parel, Dadar, Wadala, Kurla, Sion, Tilak Nagar, Andheri, Santacruz, Khar, Goregaon, Malad and other pockets were flooded in upto knee-deep water, seriously hampering traffic flow and pedestrian movement, leading to traffic diversions.
Scores of small vehicles like two-wheelers, cars and tempos were stuck or stranded in the water, at many places upto waist-deep, adding to the choking traffic.
Fortunately, this time, the city escaped any major rain-related incidents though part of a hillock caved in at the Asalfa area of Ghatkopar. There were no injuries as occupants of around 10 hutments were evacuated shortly before the incident.
Eight persons were injured early in Andheri due to a pile-up accident involving three cars owing to poor visibility on the roads.
The MMR and entire coastal Konkan region have been lashed by heavy rain since the past 24 hours with many weather stations recording 90 mm plus downpour.
According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Disaster Control, from 8 a.m. till evening 6 p.m., the city recorded 36.8 mm rain and the suburbs notched 2.92 mm.
In the past 24-hour period the city got 173.6 mm rain while the suburbs recorded 82.4 mm, though in some areas the downpour was an average 80-100 mm.
Till date, lakes supplying drinking water to Mumbai have received around 55 per cent of the season’s total rain, with nearly two months more of rainy season still left.
The IMD here has forecast bouts of heavy rain with intermittent showers for Mumbai, Palghar, Thane, Raigad and Ratnagiri in the next two days, according to Deputy Director-General K. S. Hosalikar.
He said latest satellite imagery shows a cloud mass in the Arabian Sea near Mumbai and fishermen have been advised not to venture in the choppy seas.