Mumbai Rains Live: Heavy Rains Return To Mumbai; Rail, Road Traffic Hit

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation moved to install six pumping stations across the city to drain out waterlogged areas that were paralysed by the highest rainfall Mumbai received in over a decade.

The six pumping stations have already pumped out over 14,000 million litres of water—as much as the combined capacity of the city's Tulsi and Vihar lakes—and discharged it into the sea, the BMC said in a statement on Twitter.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis informed the state assembly that the city needs a total of seven pumping station and the BMC is taking “numerous efforts” for installing them swiftly.

Life in Mumbai had come to a standstill after the city received 375.2 milliliters of rainfall over a 24 hour period—the second highest in the last 44 years. The only worse instance was the July 2005 deluge where it rained over 940 mm. After the IMD warned of a high tide, the state government declared a public holiday asking schools and colleges to remain shut.

Since then though, the situation has improved. Local train services which were nearly completely shut have now been restored. The situation at waterlogged areas too has improved reportedly.

The Mumbai Airport hasn’t been so lucky though. Air travel will remain affected since the main runway is likely to be closed till Thursday. A SpiceJet flight from Jaipur carrying 167 passengers and crew overshot the runway after landing amid heavy rains. The aircraft is stuck partially on the runway and the nearby grass area. Officials told PTI that they have started work to remove the stuck plane, but it will take two days for the work to be completed.

As many as 52 flights were cancelled and another 55 diverted, including 29 domestic and 26 international ones, till about 10 am due to “inclement” weather and runway closure since Monday late evening, a Mumbai Airport official said.

Early in the morning, eighteen people were killed and over 50 injured in a wall collapse in the northern suburb of Malad after heavy rains. Fadnavis has announced financial assistance for the victims of Rs 5 lakh each from the state government and the asked the BMC to match that. “A high level enquiry will be initiated into the unfortunate event,” he said in the assembly.

Another six people died in Pune, while three died in Kalyan. The government will also give assistance to them, Fadnavis assured.

After a break of few days, heavy rains returned to Mumbai and its neighbouring areas on Monday morning, affecting road and rail traffic and briefly disrupting operations at the city airport.

The suburban areas received around 20 mm rainfall in just three hours starting 8.30 am, an official at the India Meteorological Department in Mumbai said.

This caused water-logging on rail tracks at Ghatkopar, Kanjurmarg, Sion and other stations due to which local trains on the Central Line were running slow.

Several local trains on the Central and Western lines were also cancelled due to flooding on the tracks, railway officials said.

Office-goers who commute by local trains, considered the lifeline of Mumbai, were hit hard due to the heavy downpour in the morning rush hour.

Operations at the airport here were also suspended for around 20 minutes in the morning and three city-bound flights were diverted to some nearby airports, an official from the Mumbai International Airport Limited said.

However, no flights were cancelled.

The services were stopped at 9:12 a.m. and later resumed at 9:31 a.m., the official said.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation expressed regret over the inconvenience caused to city residents because of the heavy rainfall.

"Dear Mumbaikars, the city has experienced heavy rainfall in the last couple of hours, especially in the eastern suburbs. We regret all the inconvenience that has showered along. But the intensity is on decline now & our teams will try to pump out logged water as soon as possible," the BMC said in a tweet.

Heavy cloud formation was bringing more rains to the city, the IMD official said.

"The catchment areas of dams that supply drinking water to Mumbai are also receiving good precipitation. The city is expected to receive more rains today," he added.

The metropolis and its adjoining areas earlier received heavy rains for four consecutive days in June end- early July, badly affecting normal life and disrupting rail, road and and air traffic at that time.

After that, the city had been witnessing sporadic rains in the last few days.

All local train services, across the three lines, have been restored.

Five persons died in rain-related incidents and three were rescued from a submerged car in Thane and adjoining Palghar as heavy rains Tuesday in the region threw normal life out of gear.

In a wall collapse in an Urdu school near Durgai Fort in Kalyan in the district, three people, including a toddler, were killed.

"At around 1:30 a.m., the protection wall of the school fell on hutments beside. The dead have been identified as Sogan Kamble (60), Karina Chand (32) and three-year-old Bhushan Chand. One person has been injured," a Thane Disaster Management Cell official said.

In another incident which took place around the same time, a car with three occupants fell into the Chenna Creek between Thane and Bhayander.

Fire brigade personnel from Balkum rushed to the site and managed to rescue the persons from the submerged car, Thane Regional Disaster Management Cell chief Santosh Kadam said, adding that the car continued to remain stuck in the creek.

Around 50 people were shifted to higher ground in the city's Bhaskar Colony area after water gushed into their homes in the early hours of the day, an official said.

Two people were swept away in the rains in Jawhar area and Dahanu, he said.

Since Sunday, heavy rains has caused Surya, Vaitarna and Pinjal rivers in the region to swell, leaving several residential clusters alongside in danger of getting submerged.

Source: PTI

Rain fury claimed 27 lives in Maharashtra, including 18 in a wall collapse in Mumbai, while the authorities declared a holiday in the city and adjoining regions, asking people to avoid stepping out of their houses.

Eighteen people were killed and over 50 injured in a wall collapse in the northern suburb of Malad in Mumbai early Tuesday following heavy rains.

In Pune, six labourers were killed and three injured after a wall collapsed in Ambegaon area late Monday night. A wall collapse in Kalyan in Thane district early Tuesday killed three people, officials said.

Altogether 54 flights were diverted and 52 cancelled at Mumbais Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport due to inclement weather.

A SpiceJet flight from Jaipur skid and overshot the main runway while landing at the Mumbai airport amid heavy rains on Monday, although none of the passengers were hurt in the incident, an airline spokesperson said.

A wall collapsed on hutments in Pimpripada area of Malad East due to heavy rainfall. A senior National Disaster Response Force official told reporters at the site that his team searched the debris with advanced equipment and also by canine search for bodies.

The official said that around 2 a.m., a compound wall in Pimpripada collapsed, trapping people living in shanties adjacent to the wall.

"Our team of National Disaster Response Force along with sniffer dog reached the site of the incident immediately after receiving the information. Besides, a team of fire brigade and local police also reached the spot and took control of the situation," a senior NDRF official said.

Heavy rains also saw a joint evacuation operation in suburban Kurla with the NDRF, Navy and fire brigade shifting some 1,000 people to temporary shelters, a Navy official said.

A Navy team encountered extreme waterlogging and abandoned vehicles, preventing their own vehicles from reaching the site, the official added.

The team moved on foot, carrying safety gear like lifebuoys and lifejackets and was able to help elderly women and children to safer areas.

Authorities have declared Tuesday as a public holiday in Mumbai as the Indian Meteorological Department has forecast heavy rains.

The Mumbai University has also postponed the exam of B.Sc Computer Science for first and second year students due to heavy rains, an official said.

The Central Railway has also decided to run local trains in limited corridors due to water logging on the railway tracks.

"Trains will run in CSMT-Andheri-Goregaon section in harbour line. Vashi to Panvel in harbour line. Thane to Vashi and Panvel in trans harbour line. CSMT to Thane Karjat and Khopoli sections," a CR official said.

He said CR personnel, with the help of RPF jawans, rescued thousands of passengers stranded in midnight local trains and served them tea, biscuits and other edible items at stations.

A senior official of the Western Railway said its suburban services are running between Churchgate and Virar even if the frequency was less.

Power utility companies have also suspended the supply in some suburban areas of Mumbai as a precautionary measure.

The heavy downpour forced Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to cancel his scheduled ground breaking function of construction of a new building for MLAs.

With inputs from PTI

After the IMD warned Mumbaikars of an expected high tide earlier in the day, private weather agency Skymet also tweeted, alerting people that a high tide is expected to hit the coast of Mimbai around 11:52 A.M.

Mumbai is set to experience a high tide today along with heavy to very heavy rainfall, said AK Srivastava, head of climate monitoring and analysis at the Indian Meteorological Department.

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday said that only emergency services will remain functional in Mumbai due to the incessant rains that has affected the road traffic and railways in the city.

Authorities have also advised people to avoid stepping out of their homes as the Indian Meteorological Department has forecast heavy rains.

“The heavy rainfall has submerged the roads and rail tracks. Based on further inputs from other agencies, we have taken the decision to keep emergency services operational. We have appealed to the people not to venture out in this situation,” Brijesh Singh, the official spokesperson of the state government, said.

Several parts of Mumbai received around 100 mm rainfall since Monday morning, affecting trains and the road traffic.

With inputs from PTI

The Central Railway Authority released a list of routes where trains will be plying today, with the remaining routes cancelled, they said in a tweet.

"Moving trains in such rains in Kurla Thane section is safety hazard at this point of time... Suburban train movement has been suspended till further advice,” it said around 1 a.m.

The airline’s twitter handle asks all passengers to check their flight’s status as departures and arrivals may get affected due to the weather.

And So Did IndiGo...

As the south-west monsoon became active over Konkan, Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha, IMD predicted "heavy to extremely heavy" rainfall at isolated places over these regions over today and tomorrow.

Heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected at few places with "extremely heavy" rainfall at isolated places over Vidarbha, very to heavy rainfall at isolated places over Madhya Maharashtra and Marathwada regions, an official said.

"Heavy to heavy rainfall with extremely heavy falls at isolated places over Konkan and Goa are likely to be witnessed," he said.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, light to moderate rainfall is expected in Pune and adjoining area.

Heavy rains are pummelling Mumbai since Sunday night.

According to officials, the financial capital has received 540 mm rain in two days, the highest over a two-day period in a decade.

Private weather forecaster Skymet also expects heavy rainfall to continue across Mumbai and neighbouring regions today as well. A public holiday has been declared in schools and colleges across the metropolitan, it said in a tweet.

With unstoppable rains over Dahanu, Maharashtra, the city has recorded the "extremely heavy" rains to the tune of 299 millimeter in the span of just 24 hours. This makes it the rainiest place in the country over the last day.

"Moreover, more heavy showers are coming up for the city and we expect Dahanu will surpass its daunting monthly rainfall target in the next three days," the weather agency said in a statement on its website.

The city is close to a three-hour drive from Mumbai.

The Indian Meteorological Department's daily weather update showed a forecast of heavy rainfall in most places in Maharashtra.

It especially expects heavy to very heavy rainfall over central Maharashtra, according to its 2 p.m. weather update.

The city’s municipal corporation is compiling a ward-wise list of hosts who are open to giving shelter to those stuck in the rain.

Heavy rains during the night and on Monday morning in Mumbai and its outskirts inundated low-lying areas, delayed trains and slowed down vehicular movement on roads.

Several local train services, considered the lifeline of Mumbai, were cancelled or short-terminated as a temporary bamboo structure erected for civil work fell on an overhead wire near the Marine Lines station on the Western line, an official said.

The weather station in Santacruz recorded 91 mm of rainfall in 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Monday, an India Meteorological Department official said, predicting more showers in the city and in the parched Marathwada and Vidarbha regions of Maharashtra.

The vehicular movement from suburbs towards south Mumbai and the Bandra-Kurla Complex, where several corporate houses and private companies are located, was slow due to the incessant showers.

There was waterlogging at several pockets in the suburbs, due to which trains were running slow on the Central line as well, another official said.

In view of the heavy rains in Palghar district of Maharashtra and a rail track suffering damage near Lonavala hill station in Pune, 17 long-distance trains of the Western Railway and more than 10 of the Central Railway were cancelled in the morning, the official said.

Due to submergence of rail tracks at a few places in Palghar, some trains were also short-terminated, a WR official said.

A goods train derailed in the early hours of Monday in the Western Ghat section between Karjat and Lonavala, affecting the movement of several long-distance trains going towards Pune and western Maharashtra, a CR official said.

Some trains were also short-terminated and others diverted via Kalyan-Igatpuri-Manmad section. The shuttle train services between Mumbai and Pune were also affected, the official said.

Thousands of state government employees and private staff were not able to go to work, a government official said.

A citizen who uses the Western Express Highway regularly said a number of potholes on the road posed problems for commuters, adding that it exposed the poor quality of repair works done by the civic body.

With inputs from PTI

Trains were stopped at the Marine Lines station around 8 a.m. after some construction material fell on the over head exit. However, slow trains resumed function around 11 a.m.

Mumbai’s Sion, Dadar, Matunga and some nearing are water logged on the third day of continuous rainfall in the metropolitan. These areas, however, are low lying and are prone to it.

Private weather forecast channel Skymet expects moderate to heavy rainfall to prevail over Mumbai, suburbian Mumbai, Thane and Palghar between 12 p.m. and 4 p.m., it said in a tweet.

After a two-week delay, Mumbai finally saw a proper onset on monsoon starting Saturday, three days after the rainfall winds hit Maharashtra.

Mumbai saw 63 mm of rain in a span of six hours -- between 11:30 p.m. Sunday night to 5:30 a.m. Monday morning, according to the agency. While rainfall may reduce to an on-and-off scatter, it will again rain heavily on the night of July 3.