Mumbai:
As the heavens opened up over the city of dreams, Mumbai's western suburbs witnessed the highest rainfall of this season. Battling an acute water crisis, the incessant downpour brought a smile to many faces across the city.
"Santacruz registered 158.2 mm rainfall, which is the highest of this season in the suburbs. While on the other hand, Colaba's highest rainfall was on June 25 which was 210 mm," confirmed R V Sharma, Deputy Director, IMD.
The season's total rainfall was 2328.0 mm in Santacruz and 2383.5 mm in Colaba. Met officials said that the suburbs will continue to receive heavy showers for the next 24 hours.
While several Mumbaikars were thanking the rain gods for the blessings, the severe downpour wreaked havoc in some parts of the city. Over a period of 48 hours, the incessant rainfall caused landslides, wall collapses and flooded streets.
KalwaA portion of Sonabai Niwas, a residential building housing 21 families in Kalwa, collapsed killing ten people yesterday. According to officials, four injured people were rescued from the debris and the hunt for more was still on. An official added that the building had been declared to be dangerous, however, residents continued to ignore the warning and resided in it.
Jogeshwari
The compound wall of a housing society in Jogeshwari (W) collapsed yesterday, but no person was reported injured in the incident. However, two motorbikes parked near the compound wall were damaged.
SakinakaIn another incident at Narayan Nagar in Sakinaka, a landslide caused the death of a 15-year-old, identified as Altaf Hussain. Two people were reported injured.
Sakinaka has been prone to landslides earlier too owing to the topography of the area. Ten people were killed in a landslide in September last year in the Lal Bahadur Shastri slums. In 2005, a massive landslide in the same area killed 78 people.