Mumbai: Torrential rains once again brought Mumbai to a standstill, with memories of the 2005 deluge coming to mind as the non-stop downpour from morning led to flooding.

Traffic and public transport systems came to a halt in the city, with commuters facing severe difficulties.

Many residents were angry that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which has a disaster management control centre, did not have any of its officials out to help the people in flooded areas.

They were also upset that the BMC and Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) did not warn them of the heavy rains as most schools and colleges were open in the morning though the afternoon shift was cancelled.

The Maharashtra government issued orders to all offices to allow their employees to leave early in the wake of heavy rains and IMD warning of further bad weather.

Most offices, banks, shops and several outlets shut early so that people could reach home before dark.

However, “What many of us fear is how we will reach home since all trains, barring a few buses, have stopped running and the roads are flooded for cars to move fast,” said a bank employee working in Dadar.

It was a fear echoed by many on the streets, who were anxious to reach home.

Suburban trains, which are the lifeline of this city, stopped running from morning between Churchgate Terminus and Andheri while long-distance trains were all held up at Mumbai Central.

Travellers tried to inquire if the trains would operate at some point of time even as others pleaded with the railway authorities to do something about their friends stranded in trains in Matunga.

The Central Railway was in a worse situation as some coaches of the Nagpur-Mumbai Duranto Express derailed between Vashind and Asangaon in the morning causing diversion of several long distance trains.

Fortunately, no passenger was injured.

But its suburban trains were suspended on the Main Line between Parel and Kurla and the Harbour Line between Vadala and Kurla—all these areas being in the low-lying region.

After four to five days of constant rain, the situation today turned worse with windy spells that caused many trees to come crashing down.

Almost every locality, especially the low lying areas like Parel, Elphinstone Road, Lower Parel and Dadar, was inundated and people who braved the rains had to wade through water to reach their work places. Western suburbs like Bandra, Andheri and Juhu were also flooded with traffic shut down in all the subways.

The BMC put up nearly 150 pumps to drain out the water but this was hardly helpful as the high tide in the afternoon led to further flooding. From 8.30am till 2.30pm, the IMD (Santacruz) observatory recorded 126mm of rainfall making the second highest in a day since 2012.

At the Mumbai International Airport, the rains took their toll on the schedule of flights with several cancellations, diversions and turnarounds taking place during the day, said an airport source. Though the visibility was down, the runway was not closed but no flights were landing though some were taking off.

The Mumbai Police warned motorists that if water reached up to the level of their car’s tyres, they should abandon the car since “being on your 2 feet may uncomfortable but safer,” stated the police on their Twitter handle.