Rains disrupt normal life, claim 9 lives in Thane, Mumbai

Heavy rains in Mumbai and adjoining areas today claimed nine lives and disrupted normal life in the city, disrupting road, air, and rail traffic.

With incessant rains continuing to lash the city since last night, the BMC issued a high tide alert for the day, put its staff on alert, and deployed lifeguards and firemen at the beaches to prevent any untoward incident.

Eight people were killed and four injured when a wall collapsed on hutments in Thane district following heavy rains. In a separate incident, one person died after a wall collapsed at Lal Bahadur Shastri Road in Mumbai's Mulund suburb this morning.

A boundary wall erected by a construction company came crashing down on the hutments at Dnyaneshwar Nagar in
Thane, trapping over a dozen people. Four injured people were rushed to Kaushila Hospital in Thane.

According to Thane Municipal Corporation officials, the wall caved in along a stretch of 80 feet. The remaining part was demolished to prevent further damage.

Residents alleged that the company, Dosti Constructions, had recently dumped large quantities of soil on their side of the wall, creating a mound. Heavy rains over the last three days triggered the collapse, they said.

Heavy rains continued to lash the metropolis since the last 24 hours, disrupting road, air, and rail traffic.

The civic body issued an advisory, warning of a high tide of 4.07 metres at 1421 hours and another of 4.70 metres at 1521 hours.

"This year, luckily we do not have a tide of 5 metres and above like last year. A tide over 4.5 metres is considered high tide and if it is coupled with heavy rains, it will be a matter of concern," joint municipal commissioner (disaster management cell) SS Shinde told PTI.

The weather bureau forecast heavy rainfall with strong winds and thundershowers in parts of city and suburbs over the next 24 hours.

Between June 13 and 17, there will be tides measuring between 4.58 metres and 4.73 metres, the civic body said.

From 8:30am to 11:30am, the island city recorded 19.22mm rainfall, eastern suburbs 18.92mm and western suburbs 9.80mm of rainfall.

Train services on the Western line were running late by 10-15 minutes whereas on the Central line, trains were delayed by 15-20 minutes, railway officials said.

Five flights were diverted, including an Air India flight from Chennai which was diverted to Ahmedabad, airline sources said.

There was also an average delay of one-and-a-half to two hours in flight operations due to heavy rains, airline sources said, adding, "The start-up delay is around one-and-a-half to two hours due to congestion caused by heavy rains and strong winds."

Waterlogging has been reported at Dadar in central Mumbai, Cadbury Junction, Hind Mata and other areas, civic officials said.