Mumbai Rains: Retaining wall collapses in Powai, IMD issues orange alert in city

On Friday, the retaining wall and a part of the premises of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)'s Municipal Capacity and Research (MCMCR) building at Chandivali, Powai collapsed. Officials said that the reason for the crash appeared to be the continuous rain. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted thunderstorms with lightning in Mumbai. 

IMD said, "Thunderstorm accompanied with lightning and moderate to intense spells of rain with gusty winds reaching 30-40 kmph is likely to occur at isolated places in the districts of Palghar, Thane, Mumbai Raigad during next 3 hours."

Heavy rains in Mumbai forced traffic police to shut 4 subways and asked motorists to abandon their vehicles on road. The traffic Police closed Milan, Khar, Andheri, and Malad Subways due to water-logging. City police requested people to not step out of their homes unnecessarily. 

Mumbai has been receiving rainfall since Tuesday night. Low-lying areas are flooded in the city leaving road traffic and local trains disrupted. Somnath Gharge, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Western Suburbs said, "We have closed the subways due to water-logging of up to two feet at these junctions. However, traffic is smooth on the SV Road, Linking Road, and the Western Express Highway. So far, no traffic congestion has been reported."

On Wednesday, services were suspended on several routes of Mumbai's suburban train network. Also, many trains were delayed due to waterlogging on the tracks. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said that both the city and the railways need to be fully prepared for the monsoon. 

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International airport also aborted 4 landings on Wednesday due to inclement weather. The airport authorities said, "Due to the inclement weather in the city earlier today, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport witnessed a total of 4 go-arounds. Operations at the airport continue as per schedule."

The civic body had directed officials to inspect all manholes in the city. BMC has advised citizens to take an antibiotic if waded in rainwater water to prevent leptospirosis, a bacterial disease spread through the urine of the infected animal.

Earlier IMD issued an orange alert for Mumbai and said, "Due to strengthening of westerly winds along the west coast, in association with the low-pressure area (due to cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal), widespread rains with heavy go very heavy falls likely to continue in coastal Maharashtra from June 10-15."