The heavy downpour and high tide above 4.68 metres caused waterlogging in low-lying areas in the city on Wednesday, affecting local train services in the morning and traffic snarls at several locations. Andheri subway and Sion road no. 24 were chronic flooding spots that were waterlogged.
Further, a retaining wall of a hill collapsed on a house near Saidham society at Powai. Fortunately, no injuries were reported in this incident. However, seven families had to be shifted to a safer location by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Fire Brigade who rushed to the spot. The families were shifted to the nearby civic-run Tirandas school and a Gurudwara nearby.
In another incident, a tree collapsed at Saat Rasta, damaging three motorcycles. A total of 68 tree and branch falls were reported throughout the day from across the city.
According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), July usually receives a total rainfall of 855 mm. However, the heavy rainfall in the last 13 days has surpassed the average and stood at 930 mm recorded till Wednesday.
According to the IMD, the city recorded 79 mm in just 10 hours from 8 am to 6 pm on Wednesday. The eastern suburbs received 63 mm and the western suburb 51 mm of rain. The highest rainfall throughout the day was recorded in Dadar (112 mm), Wadala (101 mm), and Worli (99 mm). The downpour, coupled with a high tide of about 4.68 meters at 11.38 am resulted in flooding at several chronic spots. “During high tides, the civic body closes the floodgates to prevent seawater from entering the drains. So, the combination of high tide and heavy rains resulted in waterlogging in some places. After the rain subsided the water was drained out using additional pumps,” said a civic official. Waterlogging was reported At Wadala Sukkur Panchyat Chowk, Dadar TT, Sheikh Mistry Durga Road, Antop Hill, Sion Road no. 24, and the Andheri subway.
Meanwhile, it was reported that local trains were running on time. “Despite heavy rain, train services were running smoothly on Wednesday,” said the deputy chief public relations officer of Central Railway (CR). Similarly, Western Railway's (WR) local services were also running smoothly. “Every possible effort has been undertaken by WR employees to ensure safe & steady suburban services to Mumbaikars,” WR authorities tweeted.
According to the BEST spokesperson, 18 breakdowns were reported in the BEST and were attended to in a timely manner. “However, these were routine problems, with most of them not related to the rain as they were punctures and problems in starting buses,” the official said, adding that services were otherwise running as usual.
