Monsoon rains arrive in Maharashtra; Trains, road traffic hit in Mumbai
Mumbai, June 9, 2021
The first monsoon rains hit Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra with full fury on Wednesday, hitting local trains and road traffic, and flooding low-lying areas in the country's commercial capital, officials said.
Large parts of Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad witnessed heavy rain, inundating several low-lying areas.
In Mumbai and suburbs several roads were flooded and the Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR) suburban train services were hit on the mainline and Harbour lines.
CR spokesperson Shivaji Sutar said that, due to waterlogging near Chunabhatti station, all services on the Harbour Line between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Vashi (Navi Mumbai) were suspended.
Similarly, due to flooded tracks near Kurla, the mainline services between Thane-CSMT were suspended, though the CR operated shuttles between Thane-Karjat, Thane-Kasara and Vashi-Panvel sectors.
WR spokesperson Sumit Thakur said that due to waterlogging at Wadala station, all Harbour Line trains on the Andheri-CSMT routes were suspended till further notice, and water pumps were deployed to drain out the excess water from the railway tracks.
Stretches of the Eastern Express Highway, Western Express Highway, major roads like SV Road in the west and LBS Marg in the east besides other roads and lanes were flooded, hampering vehicular movement and resulting in traffic snarls.
In some parts of Malad, Khar, Kurla water seeped into building compounds or ground floor flats as rain accompanied by thunder, lightning and strong winds lashed the city.
Subways at Andheri, Malad and Kandivali experienced waterlogging though traffic or pedestrian movements had not been hit, as the city will experience a major high-tide of 4.16 metre 11.43 am onwards.
Till Wednesday morning, the BMC recorded around 50 mm of rain in the city, 67 mm in eastern suburbs and 49 mm in the western suburbs, with a forecast of cloudy weather with more rains, thundershowers and very heavy rainfall in some areas during the day.
IANS
