Heavy rain lashed parts of Mumbai and its suburbs early morning on Friday, leading to waterlogging in a few areas and affecting the local train services, PTI reported, citing officials.
At 1 pm, Central Railway Chief Public Relations Officer Shivaji Sutar said that train services had been restored on all corridors. This was after he informed in the morning that trains on Vadala-Mankhurd were stopped due to waterlogging at Chunabatti station. Suburban services on the main line between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Kurla, and the Harbour line were also affected due to waterlogging on tracks near Kurla station in eastern Mumbai.
The trains were running 20 to 25 minutes behind schedule on the two lines.
Around 250 residents of Kranti Nagar, a slum-dominated area along the Mithi river in Kurla, were briefly evacuated after the water level touched 3.7 metres in the morning. However, as the water level of the river later subsided, the people returned to their homes, PTI quoted a civic body official as saying.
Mumbai recorded 64.45 mm of rainfall in 24 hours till 8.30 am, reported NDTV. The eastern suburbs of the city received 120.67 mm and the western suburbs 127.16 mm.
Meanwhile, the city’s civic body said that a high tide of 4.08 metres will take place at 4.26 pm. It added that a low tide of 1.43 metres will occur at 10.37 pm.
The India Meteorological Department had earlier predicted moderate to heavy rainfall in the city and its suburbs, with the possibility of very heavy rainfall at the isolated places on Friday. It had issued a red alert for Pune, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Kolhapur and Satara districts and an orange alert for Mumbai and Thane, reported News18.
In view of the orange alert, three teams of the National Disaster Response Force have been shifted from Pune to Mumbai as a precautionary measure.
The Regional Meteorological Centre in Mumbai has predicted light to moderate rain in Mumbai and its suburbs with the possibility of heavy rainfall at isolated places for the next 24 hours. Many low-lying areas in the city were inundated due to the heavy rain. In view of this, buses were diverted on many routes. Several routes were later restored.
Meanwhile, Thane Municipal Corporation said that a resident was injured after a truck, carrying tomatoes overturned near the Kopari area on Eastern Express Highway around 2 am. The resident has been shifted to a hospital.
Visuals of the cleaning up operation showed a mountain of tomatoes piled up against the side of a flyover as an earth-mover tried to gather up the produce, according to NDTV.
Heavy rains have been lashing Mumbai since Tuesday night, reported the Hindustan Times. On Wednesday, the weather agency had said that the intensity of rainfall was likely to reduce soon with light to moderate showers in isolated places.
Till 8.30 am on Thursday, Mumbai received 1,291.8 mm of rainfall since June 1, which is about 48% in excess of the seasonal normal. Last week, the city had received about 302 mm of rain – 77% above the seasonal normal. According to IMD, a significant part of the rainfall deficit for the first 14 days of July has been made up in the past week.
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