Mumbaikars were brought to their knees on Friday, as heavy rain battered Mumbai and its suburbs inundating the low-lying areas, throwing out of gear the city’s fragile rail and road transport and leaving at least two persons dead in monsoon-related incidents.The ferocity of the monsoon, which arrived in the metropolis on June 12, could be gauged from the fact that the Maximum City received 310 mm to 350 mm rain during 32 hours ending at 4 pm on Friday, while various suburbs registered a rainfall ranging from 220 mm to 300 mm during the same period.Notwithstanding the claims by the Shiv Sena-headed Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation that it was better prepared this year to combat the monsoon-related problems, Mumbai’s transport system collapsed yet again, with railway tracks at many places on all three suburban railway networks — Central Railway (Main), Harbour line and Western Railway — submerged for better part of the dayOwing to the waterlogging at several places like Parel, Kurla, Ghatkopar and Bhandup, the services on the main Central Railway line between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and Thane remained suspended for most part of the day, while the harbour line too bore the brunt of the monsoon fury. Even on the Western Railway, services were suspended between Andheri and Churchgate railway terminus owing to inundation of the railway tracks at Elphinstone Road, Dadar and Matunga Road.
The long-distance trains departing from Bandra Terminus ran normally but some trains departing from Mumbai Central were terminated at Andheri, Borivali and reversed from there, while most of the long-distance CST or Kurla-bound incoming trains were terminated at Kalyan and most did not depart from Mumbai during the day.However, the authorities ran services from Thane to Kasara and Karjat on the Central Railway and from Andheri to Virar on the Western Railway during the day.With the railway authorities having suspended from the morning itself, a majority of office-goers stayed indoors.
As a result, there was thin attendance at Mantralaya (State Secretariat), Government and private offices in downtown south Mumbai.
Given that there was waterlogging on roads at several places both in the Island city and suburbs, Mumbaiakrs had a horrid time even travelling by road. Inundation was reported from several of the low-lying areas of the city, including slums. In some low-lying areas, water entered houses.
Two persons — Ranjit Kumar Gupta (60) and Karnik Gurav Damir (5) — were electrocuted at a building near Hari Mandir along the J K Bashir Marg at Wadala in north-central Mumbai. They died before they were rushed lokmanya Tilak Hospital at Sion.
Flights arriving at or departing from the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport were affected because of poor visibility. The authorities pegged the fight delays anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes. A flight each of Indigo and Jet Airways had to be diverted to Ahmedabad, while a Go Air flight had to be diverted to Vadodara, airport officials said. The Juhu runway — which supports the ONGC operations, laying under water because of the heavy downpour.
While the ruling Shiv Sena cancelled its 40th foundation day celebrations, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis suspended his tour to Kolhapur in western Maharashtra and took stock of the havoc wreaked by the monsoon on Mumbai and its suburbs. He visited the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s disaster control room.
Owing to the heavy rain, the Chief Justice declared holiday for the Bombay High Court. All courts in Mumbai remained closed, while most of the educational institutions had declared holiday. While shootings of films in studios were cancelled, the television producers cancelled their shoots at Film city at Goregaon north Mumbai. The Mumbai University cancelled exams scheduled for Friday.
Mumbai will continue to be under wet spell during the 24 hours. High tide-involving waves of 4.33 metres are expected to strike the city coast 3.10 pm on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the flood rescue teams with boats of the Indian Navy have been positioned at various locations within Mumbai. Specialised diving teams are based at Naval Dockyard in Mumbai. Fast interceptor crafts and Immediate Support Vessels provide Search and Rescue (SAR) cover within Mumbai Harbou.Helicopters, including multi-engine all weather, Seaking helicopters, are in readiness at INS Shikra and ships have been deployed off Mumbai coast for SAR. The Joint Operation Centre (JOC), Mumbai operating under the Headquarter, Western Naval Command also operates a Disaster Control Center and coordinates Naval SAR effort.
