Mumbai has been hit by the heaviest rain of the season today, throwing rail, road and air traffic out of gear. Local trains are running late, and all flights have also been delayed by 15 to 20 minutes.
Here are the 10 latest developments in the story:
The Mumbai Traffic Police has urged people to stay put and avoid travel for the next few hours. Areas like Hindmata, Parel, Sion, Wadala and Dadar in Central Mumbai and Andheri Subway, Jogeshwari, Airport road in Western Mumbai should be avoided, they said. (Pics of rain in Mumbai)
All flights are delayed by 15-20 minutes at the Mumbai airport. (Buzz on Twitter)
Local trains on the Central and Harbour Lines are running 20 minutes late this evening. There is waterlogging on rail tracks in Kurla, Mazgaon, Vidyavihar and Sion. (Watch)
There has also been a minor landslide in the Chembur area. Two fire engines and one ambulance have been rushed to the spot. There have been no reports of any casualties or injuries so far.
This is the heaviest rainfall Mumbai has received this season. By 6 pm, South Mumbai had received about 64 mm of rain; Western suburbs had received 93 mm; and Eastern suburbs 113 mm. The weather bureau has forecast similar heavy to very heavy rains over Mumbai and other parts of the state for the next two days.
Elsewhere in the state, most districts of the coastal Konkan, eastern districts of Vidarbha, northern parts of the state, Marathwada and western Maharasthra were lashed with heavy rains since this morning, spelling cheers for the water-starved farming community.
Torrential downpour in Thane's major towns like Kalyan, Dombivli, Vasai, Virar, Palghar, Dahanu led to flooding on the roads with vehicular movements virtually crippled for hours.
As a precautionary measure, some schools in the district were closed early to enable students reach their homes safely.
Farmers in the parched districts of Marathwada were happy as the region was lashed with rains after a gap of over three weeks and earnestly resumed their farming activities.
In a rain-related tragedy, five people were killed and another four injured when the wall of a Lord Krishna temple crashed at Kaundinyapur village, Amravati district of eastern Maharashtra. The incident occurred Sunday evening and the bodies of the victims were removed from the debris early Monday.
(With IANS inputs)
