Rain maroons Mumbai suburbs

It was a day of bumpy rides as steady rainfall took its toll on city roads on Wednesday. The Western Express Highway, a portion of the Lalbaug flyover, Saat Rasta, SV Road and LBS Road saw jam-packed traffic due to pothole-dotted roads.

And this despite the low intensity of showers. The suburbs were hit with a major quantum of rainfall, while rains were minimal in the island city. The Colaba region witnessed just 17mm of rainfall, the eastern suburbs received 24.9mm of rain and the Western suburbs recorded 44.3mm.

However, weather officials have predicted heavy rains in the coming days. “The monsoon is in active mode. Lower pressure has been seen on the coast of Bay of Bengal and huge clouds over the Konkan coast will further increase chances of heavy rains,” said VK Rajeev, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) director.

With this, transport in the city is expected to suffer a blow.  “A majority of the roads had huge potholes filled with water. This makes it impossible to decipher the depth of the crater. And what we get in return is damage to our vehicle and our backs,” said Meena Dwivedi, travelling along LBS Road.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had identified 3,093 locations in the city out of which a majority were in suburban Mumbai.

Traffic snarls were observed in various parts of the city on Wednesday, with diversions at Andheri and Milan subway. Local train services were further delayed by around 20 minutes.