With the monsoons striking ahead of schedule, the city was thrown out of gear on Saturday. While some trains on the Western and Central Railways were cancelled, others were disrupted and delayed. Road traffic and flights were also affected.
On Saturday afternoon, trains between Sion and Chunabhatti were halted for 20 minutes after the tracks were flooded, leading to chaos and uncertainty at the stations, with no announcements made. Tracks at Santa Cruz and Masjid were also submerged. After waiting in the coaches for a long time, passengers travelling between Masjid and CST, and between Parel and Byculla, started walking along the tracks.
Late evening showers on Friday caused 13 flights headed for Mumbai to be diverted to Ahmedabad, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad, leading to further chaos at the airport. Other flights, like the Kingfisher flight from Ahmedabad to Mumbai, were delayed by over two hours.
The Met recorded 83.3mm of rain in the city, and 161.7mm in the suburbs.
About 15 places in the city (including Tardeo, Hind Mata, Bharat Mata, Kala Chowkie and Slater Road) and 17 places in the western suburbs (including Milan Subway, Juhu and the area near Andheri station) and 11 in the eastern suburbs (parts of Chembur, Sion, Chunabhatti, Shivaji Nagar-Govandi, and some areas of Bhandup and Mulund) were submerged.
Traffic was slow-moving between Peddar Road and Haji Ali, and some sections of SV Road near Andheri. At Sahar, a part of the road sunk in, leading to further traffic disruptions. But Sunday may not be any better.
With the Met predicting “heavy to very heavy rain”, accompanied by thundershowers and gusty winds till Sunday afternoon, the city is likely to be further crippled. Mumbaikars’ misery will be compounded by a mega-block by the Central railway for track maintenance.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) chief Jairaj Phatak, however, claimed that the situation was under control. He insisted that the municipal corporation’s measures to keep waterlogging at bay had not failed; Water had collected in places because of the high tide and the fact that mud and dirt churned up by the first showers had clogged the manholes.
“We did not fail. There was water logging in the same spots that get flooded every year,” Phatak said. “From last night, and again from 3pm this afternoon, there has been high tide, submerging the low-lying areas. In such a situation, no one can stop waterlogging.” Phatak also blamed the usual suspects: over-population, and people constructing their homes over drains, thereby blocking the path for the water to flow out.
The BMC has taken many initiatives to improve the situation and the Storm Water Drain department had made drains deeper and wider, he said, adding the situation would improve with the Brimstowad project. The first showers also led to the death of a man following four incidents of house collapse. Gusty winds also brought down 100 trees across the city
From p1
About 15 places in the city (including Tardeo, Hind Mata, Bharat Mata, Kala Chowkie and Slater Road) and 17 places in the western suburbs (including Milan Subway, Juhu and the area near Andheri station) and 11 in the eastern suburbs (parts of Chembur, Sion, Chunabhatti, Shivaji Nagar-Govandi, and some areas of Bhandup and Mulund) were submerged.
Traffic was slow-moving between Peddar Road and Haji Ali, and some sections of SV Road near Andheri. At Sahar, a part of the road sunk in, leading to further traffic disruptions. Sunday may not be any better. With the Met predicting "heavy to very heavy rain", accompanied by thundershowers till Sunday afternoon, the city is likely to be further crippled. Mumbaikars' misery will be compounded by a mega-block by the Central railway for track maintenance.
BMC chief Jairaj Phatak, however, claimed that the situation was under control. He insisted it was all because of the high tide and that mud and dirt churned up by the first showers had clogged the manholes.
"We did not fail. There was water logging in the same spots that get flooded every year," Phatak said. "From last night, and again from 3pm this afternoon, there has been high tide, submerging the low-lying areas. In such cases, one can’t stop waterlogging." Phatak blamed the usual suspects: over-population, and people constructing their
homes over drains.
The BMC has taken many initiatives to improve the situation and the Storm Water Drain department had made drains deeper and wider, he said, adding the situation would improve with the Brimstowad project. The first showers also led to the death of a man following four incidents of house collapse. Gusty winds also brought down 100 trees across the city.
Fatal thunder
Three persons, including a six-year-old boy, were killed in rain-related mishaps across the city since last night. According to the police, six-year-old Mahesh Pradhan was electrocuted while he was playing in the rainwater outside his Chembur home
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