Mumbai rains: Heavy downpour paralyses city; flight, train services badly affected
Waterlogging was reported from several areas after Saturday morning's downpour in Mumbai
Heavy rains lashed Mumbai early on Saturday as Monsoon proceeded further towards central parts of Maharashtra and other regions. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an alert for heavy rains in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra on Saturday.
Waterlogging was reported from several areas after Saturday morning's downpour in Mumbai. Local rail services and air traffic were also hit.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has taken several measures to ensure the citizens are not troubled by the incessant rains in the city. The civic agency has cancelled weekends leaves of all its officials in view of the rain alert and tackle any emergency.
Earlier in the day, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) declared the onset of the monsoon over Mumbai, the adjoining
Thane-Konkan areas, Ahmednagar, Parbhani and other parts of Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, trains in the suburban section of the Central Railway were running late by 10 to 12 minutes due to the downpour, but there was no cancellation of trains, an official said.
"A wall fell on the tracks of down slow line this morning. The debris was removed immediately and for some time, trains on the down slow line were diverted to the fast line," Sunil Udasi, Chief PRO of Central Railway said, adding this happened during non-peak hours in early morning.
There is nothing to panic and commuters are advised not to fall prey to rumours, he said.
An official said Central Railway suburban services were delayed because of water-logging on tracks between Matunga and Sion.
According to an airport official, two flights had to be diverted due to bad weather.
A statement from Jet Airways said, "Due to air traffic congestion, consequent to adverse weather conditions, we are expecting delays of up to 40 minutes on departures and 20 minutes on arrivals at Mumbai airport until 3 pm.
In central Mumbai's Prabhadevi, four people were injured when the slab of a building situated on Veer Savarkar Marg collapsed this morning, a civic official said.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Deputy Municipal Commissioner Kishore Kshirsagar told reporters that areas like Hindmata, Dharavi and Parel received more than 100mm of rainfall, resulting in water-logging.
He said the civic administration had undertaken road repair works at 120 places, adding that there was no water-logging on Andheri-Kurla Road, Santacruz, Oberoi Mall and Lokhandwala Circle in the suburban part of the city.
More than 3,000 civic employees were out on the streets monitoring the situation, Kshirsagar said.
In its forecast, the IMD has forecast thundershowers accompanied with gusty winds at many places and heavy rainfall at isolated places, till Sunday.
Earlier on Tuesday, the weather agencies had predicted heavy showers in the financial capital of the country between June 6 to 12, the worst spell since 26 July 2005, when Mumbai recorded 900 mm in a day.
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