Heavy showers disrupt Mumbai's office rush hour

Mumbai: Residents on Tuesday were woken up by heavy rains that lashed the city and suburbs causing flooding in several areas and disrupting normal life with rail, road and air services being badly affected.

Fortunately, the rains abated by mid-day and water receded in many areas but not before taking a toll on people's nerves by flooding several homes, particularly in slum areas causing severe damage to property.

Many schools and colleges were shut as a precautionary measure even while many office-goers decided to stay home. Some others returned early. And those who braved the rains had to face long delays at railway platforms.

With rail tracks on the Central Railway and Harbour Line being waterlogged, trains were delayed while trains on the Western Railway were running late. Several flights in the morning were delayed by more than an hour. Landslides on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway affected traffic on the route.

Waterlogging

Municipal Commissioner Jairaj Pathak assured residents not to fear as everything was under control though he warned people not to go out unless necessary. Waterlogging in low-lying areas like Parel, Dadar, Chinchpokli and Sion in north-central Mumbai, and suburbs like Malad, Goregaon, Andheri, Kalina and Jogeshwari brought life to a standstill in the morning.

Milan subway in Santacruz was flooded as it does every year and this led to traffic snarls.

Apparently, the work of clearing Mumbai's drains of debris has not been completed by the civic body as it claimed.

The civic body has been in turn blaming the residents for this persistent problem since people continue to throw plastic and garbage into the drains chocking them.

Several citizen bodies have blamed rampant construction activities in Mumbai for the flooding in an increasing number of places every year.

Meanwhile, the Regional Meteorological Centre advised fishermen not go out into sea for the next 24 hours. Gusty winds and heavy to very heavy rains in parts of city and suburbs have been forecast for Mumbai till this morning. The Met department in Colaba recorded a rainfall of 200 mm while Santacruz (suburbs) recorded 142.9 mm last morning. After an initial spell of heavy rains in the first week of June, there have been no rains since then and the civic body had announced there would be water supply cuts in the city.