Normal life in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) was thrown out of gear on Saturday as heavy rain continued, severely disrupting road, rail and air services.
Mumbai’s adjoining districts of Thane, Raigad and Palghar received heavy rainfall throughout Saturday. People were seen wading through knee-deep water in several lowlying areas.
More than 100 trees were uprooted in the MMR, and winds lashed the shoreline. Even as huge tidal waves were hitting the coast, a lot of people visited the Marine Drive, Worli Seaface and Gateway of India.
The commercial capital has been having its second consecutive wet weekend. Vasai taluka in Palghar, located nearly 60 km away from downtown Mumbai, has recorded a maximum rainfall of around 300mm in the past 36 hours, resulting in flooding in several places.
In Fatherwadi area of Vasai-East, two people died when a wall collapsed. Mumbai city and its suburbs, on an average, recorded 80mm to 100 mm rainfall in the past 36 hours. The catchment areas of Mumbai – Tulsi and Vihar – located inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, received 70mm and 100mm, respectively.
The Mumbai-based Regional Meteorological Observatory of the IMD has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall in the Konkan-Goa coast for Sunday. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the choppy Arabian Sea.
In Mumbai, the services of the Western Railway and the Main and Harbour line services of the Central Railway were badly affected, as water flowed above the tracks.
A series of technical snags led to delays in the services, ranging from 15 minutes to 45 minutes. While there was waterlogging in Kurla and Wadala on the Harbour line, water gushed onto the tracks in Sion-Matunga on the Main line.
Coast guards rescue 10
The Indian Coast Guard on Saturday rescued 10 lives from Daman Ganga River amid the monsoon’s fury. At about 4.30 pm, Indian Coast Guard Air Station, Daman, received a telephonic information from Valsad Administration (Gujarat) regarding 10 people trapped in the river between Dadra and Naroli, due to rise of water level.