Mumbai On Alert For Heavy Rain, Is Already Waterlogged

As heavy rain hit Mumbai and its suburbs last night and this morning, parts of the city witnessed waterlogging and heavy traffic causing inconvenience to the residents.

Pictures tweeted by news agency ANI showed the roads of Sion flooded with water. People were seen wading through water in Andheri, Ghatkopar, Chembur, Dharavi, Dadar, Wadala and Panvel as well.

The local train services, considered as the lifeline of Mumbai, were affected mainly on the main and harbour corridors of the Central Railway due to waterlogging on tracks, slowing down train movement, officials said.

Some commuters also complained about heavy waterlogging in some subways in Panvel, Khandeshwar and Mansarovar stations on the Harbour line in neighbouring Navi Mumbai.

Buses on some routes were diverted due to flooding in several low-lying areas, including Sion, Chembur, Bandra, Air India Colony and Kurla, officials added.

The city received an average 95.81 mm rainfall in the 24 hour period ending at 8 am on Tuesday, while the eastern and western suburbs recorded 115.09 mm and 116.73 mm rainfall, respectively, during the same period, officials said.

Between 8 am and 11.30 am on Tuesday, the island city received an average 41 mm rainfall, while the eastern and western suburbs got 85 mm and 55 mm showers, respectively.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday predicted "moderate to heavy rainfall" for Mumbai and its suburbs and the possibility of "very heavy to extremely heavy" showers at isolated places for the next few days.

Five National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been deployed in the city in the wake of the heavy rain alert issued by the Weather Department, officials said.

The Weather Department has also issued an orange alert, predicting heavy to very heavy rains from June 4 to June 8, for Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts.

A landslide was reported at Chiplun in Ratnagiri district, about 300 km from Mumbai.

Newly sworn-in Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has directed the authorities in Mumbai and neighbouring districts to stay on alert and keep NDRF squads ready. 

"In the wake of heavy rainfall in various parts of the state, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde held a discussion with Chief Secretary Manukumar Srivastava along with directing all the related districts' guardian secretaries to keep a vigil and control the situation," his office tweeted.