Mumbai: The city of Mumbai witnessed heavy rainfall on Thursday, causing waterlogging in several low-lying areas and disrupting road and rail traffic in some parts of the city. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a red alert for Mumbai and the neighboring Raigad district, predicting “heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places”.
According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the island city, eastern and western suburbs received an average rainfall of 50.87 mm, 32.13 mm, and 23.55 mm, respectively, from 8 am to 1 pm on Thursday. The civic body declared a holiday for all government and private schools and colleges in the city and requested citizens to stay alert and indoors.
Some of the worst affected areas were Marine Lines, Dahisar, Borivli, Kandivli, Mira-Bhayander, and Vasai-Virar, where waterlogging was reported on roads and railway tracks. A stretch of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway was also marooned due to the rain. Commuters faced difficulties in reaching their destinations due to slow traffic movement and potholes on roads.
The Western Railway said that the train services were not disturbed despite waterlogging on tracks between Churchgate and Marine Lines stations. However, some trains were running late due to the rain. The Central Railway also reported normal services on its main and harbor lines.
The IMD’s Colaba observatory recorded 223.2 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Thursday, which is the third highest rainfall for a July day in a decade. The Santacruz observatory recorded 145.1 mm of rainfall in the same period. So far, the Santacruz observatory has recorded 2,219 mm of rainfall this season, which is nearly 96% of the season’s average of 2,319 mm.
The IMD issued a yellow alert for Mumbai on Friday, predicting heavy rainfall at isolated places. For adjoining Thane and Palghar districts, the weather bureau has issued an orange alert, with a forecast of heavy to very heavy downpours at isolated places. For the Raigad district, the IMD has extended the red alert till Friday.
The BMC has deployed pumps to drain out water from waterlogged areas and alerted its disaster management teams to deal with any emergency situation. The civic body has also advised people to avoid venturing near the sea or waterlogged areas and to follow the instructions from the administration.
