The south-west monsoon arrived in the country’s commercial capital and the neighbouring satellite townships in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) with a bang on Wednesday, inundating the low-lying areas, paralysing the road and train traffic and crippling normal life in the metropolis.
Mumbaikars woke up to the incessant lash of heavy rains which began late on Tuesday night and continued all through Wednesday — a feature that they have been used to witnessing for years on end on the day of the arrival of the monsoon.
The high intensity and quantum of downpour could be gauged by the fact that the city registered a record rainfall for a day in June – 280.2 mm rain in the city suburbs and 123 mm in the Island city, during the past 24 hour.
Between 8.30 am and 8.30 pm on Wednesday, the Island city received 102. 29 mm, while the eastern and western suburbs recorded 169.17 mm and 137.33 mm respectively.
While most low-lying areas of Mumbai lay under thick sheets of water, the neighbouring satellite townships of Thane, Palghar, Navi Mumbai and Kalyan-Dombivli — all of which fall under separate municipal corporations — bore the brunt of the first the first bout of rain during the current monsoon.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast “heavy to very heavy rains” accompanied by thunderstorms till June 13 in Mumbai, Thane and other districts of Palghar, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg in the coastal Konkan region.
It has also forecast heavy rain in other parts of Maharashtra. Like it happens during the monsoon months, several roads in Mumbai and suburbs were flooded.
Similarly, suburban trains on the Western Railway, the main and harbour lines of the Central Railway — considered the lifelines of Mumbai and its suburbs — were badly affected.
However, in what came as a blessing in disguise was that the trains were not operating to their full capacity, as a majority of Mumbaikars are confined to their homes owing
to the near lockdown restrictions, while a Central Railway spokesperson said that owing to water-logging near Chunabhatti station all services on the Harbour Line between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Vashi (Navi Mumbai) remained suspended in the morning.
Similarly, owing to intense flooding on tracks near Kurla, the mainline services on the Central Railway between Thane-CSMT had to be suspended. However, the CR operated shuttles between Thane-Karjat, Thane-Kasara and Vashi-Panvel sectors.
According to a Western Railway spokesperson, the water-logging of tracks near
Wadala station resulted in the indefinite suspension of all-harbour line trains on the Andheri-CSMT routes. The Railway authorities deployed water pumps to drain out the excess water from the railway tracks. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray -- who has been warming the people for the past three days about the impending heavy rains in Mumbai and neighbouring areas – visited the Disaster Management Centre of the Birhanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) along with Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and took stock of the rain situation in the metropolis with Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar and Municipal Commissioner I S Chahal, and other senior officials.
Meanwhile, the flight operations at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) remained normal during the day, but the inclement weather conditions resulted in “go-around” for at least four flight.
As it normally happens during the heavy rains, heavy inundation was witnessed at Sion, Kings Circle, Wadala, Dadar, Matunga, Kalachowky, Kurla, Mankhurd, while the subways at Andheri, Khar, Malad and Santacruz were flooded and remained out of bounds for traffic all through the day.
Traffic snarls were witnessed on the stretches of the Eastern Express Highway, Western Express Highway, major roads like S. V. Road in the west suburbs and LBS Marg in the east suburbs remained flooded.
In related development, the traffic was severely hampered on the Mumbai-Pune, Mumbai-Goa, Mumbai-Nashik and other major routes, as heavy rains battered several parts of the state.
Owing to a major high-tide of 4.16 metre witnessed in the Arabian Sea on Wednesday morning, the accumulated rainwater could not flow into the sea, affecting traffic and pedestrian movement in the Island city. Mumbai will experience a higher 4.26 metre high-tide at 12.17 pm on Thursday.
Such was the nature of havoc wreaked by the heavy rains that in suburbs like Malad, Khar, Sion, Wadala and Kurla, rain water gushed into building compounds and even ground floor flats.
The BMC shifted the people living on the banks of the Mithi River – which bisects parts of north-central Mumbai – to safer places, as the river was flowing above the danger mark at Kurla.