Mumbaikars were brought to their knees on Tuesday, as torrential rain pounded the metropolis, inundating nearly the entire island and its suburbs, crippling normal life and bringing back unpleasant memories of the July 26, 2005 deluge.
Though the quantum of rainfall registered in the metropolis during the day was a far cry from the 944.2 mm downpour received on that ill-fated day more than 12 years ago, Mumbaikars were scared out of their wits, as the incessant rain paralysed the city’s transportation system, stranding them at various places en route to their offices or homes and even forced them to wade through waterlogged roads to reach their destinations.
Not wanting to take any chances, the State Government put the metropolis on a high alert and requisitioned the services of five disaster management teams, including three from Pune, and declared a holiday for all colleges and schools on Wednesday.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast “heavy to very heavy rain” for Mumbai and the entire Konkan region during the next 24 hours, owing to a “low pressure” area over south Gujarat-Madhya Pradesh, which is expected to be upgraded to a “deep depression”.
Mumbai IMD head KS Hosalikar said, “It’s not a July 26, 2005-type of situation as the cloud cover over Mumbai is not that thick.” The State Government issued advisory to the people to stay indoors
on Wednesday.
Tuesday was the first occasion since 2005 when not just the flood-prone areas but also the roads and railway tracks across the city and its suburbs were flooded. This threw out of gear services on the two lifelines of the city, Central and Western Railway suburban railway networks and BEST bus system.
According to the weather bureau, the island city recorded 102 mm of rainfall between 8.30 am and 8.30 pm, while the suburbs registered a staggering 316 mm of rainfall in the same period. In effect, the rainfall in the city suburbs is one-third of the total rainfall registered in the metropolis in 24 hours on July 26, 2005.
Owing to the inundation of tracks at many places, including flood-prone areas of Sion, Wadala and Bhandup, the Central Railway mainline was completely suspended for more than four hours, while the operations on the harbour line remained suspended all through the day.
The otherwise efficient Western Railway cut a sorry figure as it was forced to cancel scores of trains and operate its services behind schedule.
Equally affected was transportation on the city roads as waterlogging has been reported from Dahisar, Borivali, Kandivali, Malad, Andheri, Jogeshwari, Santacruz, Bandra, Matunga, Dadar, Elphinstone, Mumbai Central, Mazagaon, lalbaug, Parel, Sion, Wadala, Bhandup and other areas.
The rains also badly affected normal operations at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport with flights getting delayed by 15-20 minutes mainly on account of low visibility. “Five flights were made to go around till landing permission was granted, while two flights were diverted,” a Mumbai International Airport limited spokesperson said.
As a consequence, domestic and international passengers bound for the airport to catch various flights experienced huge problems in reaching on time due to massive traffic snarls on the highways and main roads.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who visited the BMC’s disaster control room and reviewed the flood situation across the city, said that he had advised the State Government employees to leave their offices early so that they could reach home as swiftly as they could.
Expressing concern over the rain situation in Mumbai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the people of the State to “stay safe” and take all essential precautions and spoke to Fadnavis to take stock of the developments.
“Urge people of Mumbai and surrounding areas to stay safe and take all essential precautions in the wake of heavy rain. The Centre assures all possible support to the Maharashtra Government in mitigating the situation due to heavy rains in parts of the State,” Modi tweeted.
All through the day, churches, temples, mosques and gurudwaras offered shelter and food to the people. Ganpati mandals also extended help to the stranded people by offering them water and snacks and some of the restaurants offered discounts. The famous Siddhivinayak temple also lent its helping hand to the stranded people.
