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Heavy rains pounded Mumbai and some other parts of Maharashtra on Wednesday, causing flooding in low-lying areas and cancellation of several local trains, delayed flights and slow road traffic movement.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted intense showers in Mumbai and its neighbouring areas in the next 24 hours and issued a ‘red alert’, asking the authorities to be prepared to handle any situation.
The State government has asked the officials concerned to monitor the inflow of water in dams in western Maharashtra, where some districts were ravaged by floods last month.
The Mumbai civic body asked all schools to remain shut and to ensure that the students were sent back home safely.
Over 100 villages in Gadchiroli and Gondia in Vidarbha region and several others in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg of Konkan region were cut off from other parts of the respective districts due to water-logging on roads, officials said.
Landslides were also reported in some Western Ghats areas of Raigad and Sindhudurg districts. The south-west monsoon got activated, leading to heavy downpour in Mumbai and several other parts of the State.
In Mumbai and its suburbs, the heavy downpour caused flooding in low-lying areas, leading to cancellation of several local trains on Central and Harbour railway lines and some sections of the Western line.
The Western Railway said trains on its slow lines were suspended between Churchgate and Vasai Road due to water-logging (about 180 mm above tracks) at Matunga Road. However, the services were running on its fast lines between Churchgate and Vasai Road.
It also said that the water level went above 300 mm at Nallasopara, in view of which trains were stopped temporarily between Vasai and Virar. In the morning, rail services were also affected due to a ‘point failure’ at Virar, the Western Railway said.
The Jaipur-Mumbai Duranto Express was stranded near Vaitarna station for over an hour due to flooding on tracks. Some passengers of the train complained that the Railways did not update them about the situation.
A Mumbai airport official said five incoming flights had to do go around while the flights were delayed by an average 25 minutes.
Out of the 150 weather stations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), around 100 recorded over 200 mm rainfall in last 24 hours, the IMD said. “This shows how widespread the rainfall has been. We have issued a red alert for various places, including Mumbai city and suburbs, Thane and Palghar districts, for next 24 hours,” an IMD official told PTI.
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