Heavy rain brings out the Yin and Yang of the fabled Mumbai monsoon

MUMBAI: As June turned to July, the monsoon kept up its vigour over Mumbai Monday. Many parts of the city received torrential rain averaging over 100mm and fortunately, much of the bounty filled the lakes that supply water to the city.
Suburban locations saw over 100mm of rainfall from 8.30am-8.30pm, among them Bandra-Kurla Complex (145.78), Andheri (144.5), Versova (117.58), Malad (158.74), Bhandup (103.6) and Vikhroli (130.53). In fact, Worli received an enormous 203mm through Sunday night till 8.30am Monday.
A 30-year-old man was electrocuted when he absent-mindedly touched a light pole. Deepak Pagare, senior inspector of Shivaji Nagar police station, said, "Thirty-year-old Mohammed Qayyum Ayub Ghazi accidentally held an electric pole near his home in Plot no. 26 on Road no. 2 when he was electrocuted Sunday night. His father and neighbours took him to Rajawadi Hospital where he was declared dead." An Adani Electricity spokesperson said the accident occurred in the wake of unauthorised wires attached to a streetlight pole.
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Typically, railway travellers were worst sufferers as 250 train services were cancelled Monday. Local trains halted for long minutes or came to a crawl. Understandably, attendance in offices and schools saw a visible drop.
It took two to four hours for residents of Kalyan and Thane to reach their workplace at CST. Sushant Sawant, who works in the office of the additional solicitor general in the high court building, boarded a Kalyan-origin train at 8.22am from Dombivli and wound up reaching CST at 2.00pm after a four-hour delay. His colleague caught a Badlapur local at 7.33am only to reach CST at noon, a full three hours late. Yamini N took four hours to arrive home to Kalyan from Ghatkopar. Commuters in Thane were amused to see fellow passengers hanging wet jackets to dry on overhead handles.
On Central Railway, water-logging, poor visibility and the derailment of a goods train between Karjat-Lonavla caused problems for long distance and suburban passengers.
Western Railway did not endure water-logging but a falling cloth damaged the overhead wire at Marine Lines, disrupting rail traffic from Churchgate to Mumbai Central from 8.00-11.00am.
Flights were delayed by 20-30 minutes while BEST diverted 57 routes owing to waterlogged roads.
Streets were submerged under two or three feet of water, inconveniencing students, office goers and wage earners. King Circle, Dadar TT, HIndmata in Dadar, National College near SV Road, Bandra, Pratiksha Nagar in Sion and almost all subways including Andheri, Malad and Milan Subway went under. The BMC deployed 200 dewatering pumps to clear the sites.
Deputy municipal commissioner Chandrashekhar Chore said that while traffic was disrupted owing to water logging, all efforts were made to ensure that the rain water drained out quickly. "The city has great resilience to such days and the municipal corporation does make efforts to ensure that the water-logging is cleared," he said.
Traffic was worst affected along the Sion-Hindmata stretch and the Eastern and Western Express Highways. Potholes surfaced as well, causing angry motorists to vent their frustration online. Traffic was diverted at Sion, King's Circle and SV Road, Bandra.
Incidents of tree fall and house collapse kept the civic authorities on their toes across Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan.
The Navi Mumbai administration lost its bearings. Inside the government office of Konkan Bhavan no less, the ground floor office was inundated and files damaged. Power supply had to be severed in order to avoid danger by electrocution.
Tracks in Palghar were inundated by 100mm rainfall within just one hour from 4.00-5.00am. As rivers swelled dangerously and water swept into homes in Dahanu and Palghar, the district disaster management control room issued warnings to villages. The two talukas were plunged in darkness as electricity was discontinued due to submerged sub stations. Trees and street lights were uprooted.
However, water levels in catchment lakes saw a welcome rise as stocks rose to 7.22%, up from 6.06% the day before.
The IMD has forecast heavy to very heavy rain at a few places July 2. The same trend is expected to continue till July 5. Meanwhile Palghar and Thane, it has forecast, could receive extremely heavy rain at isolated places.