Email
Print
ShareMumbai: The 4.91-metre high tide forecast for Friday waited for none. It came at the appointed hour -- 3.07pm. But, thankfully, the rains had almost stopped by then.
If the disarray on the Western Express Highway in the morning, caused by just over 60mm of rainfall, was any indication, there could have been utter chaos -- and even floods -- in the city had heavy rains coincided with the high tide.
Between 7am and 11am, traffic came to a standstill, especially on the stretch from Santa Cruz to Goregaon. Things got worse because of a tanker that turned turtle on the highway. The fire brigade was called in to remove the vehicle to clear the road. SV Road was also chock-a-block with vehicles.
Vehicles on Acharya Donde Marg in Parel were moving at a snail's pace between 11am and 2pm. Ramkrushna Chemurkar Marg in Chembur, too, was jammed with vehicles during the peak hours.
Waterlogging was reported in many places in the island city and the suburbs --Hindmata junction (Parel); Mahim Church junction; Kalachowkie junction; Dadoji Kondadeo Marg, Byculla; Poonam Chambers, Worli; and Sant Dnyaneshwar Marg, Juhu. However, there was no waterlogging in spots that usually get flooded, like Milan Subway, Amulakh High School (Wadala), and Sakhubai Mohite Marg (Lower Parel). Many commuters were stranded due to waterlogging and for some it took three to four hours to reach their destinations.
The island city received an average rainfall of 83.6 millimetres from 7.30am to 4.30pm. In the western suburbs, 64.41 millimetres of rainfall was recorded during the nine-hour period; eastern suburbs received 31.1 millimetres of rain.
"It was the first heavy rain this monsoon," SS Shinde, joint municipal commissioner, said. "Rainwater carried with it loose soil and other materials, which choked the drains," he said. "But BMC employees cleaned the drains."
BMC officials are, however, worried that the catchment areas have not yet received good rain.
