Rains slow down life in Mumbai

The sky was overcast since early morning on Friday and rains began pouring steadily. As usual, water logging was reported from many low lying areas such as Byculla, Parel, Mahalaxmi, Mahim, Goregaon and Milan subway of Santracruz.

The north eastern suburbs of Bhandup, Kurla and Mulund too witnessed heavy water logging, civic officials said. Long queues of vehicles were seen on the Western Express and Eastern Express highways as water from surrounding areas flowed on to the main thoroughfares connecting the business district of South Mumbai.

The rains did not affect suburban rail traffic, which is the lifeline of Mumbai. Operations at the city’s Chhatrapati Shivaji international airport were also largely unaffected due to the rain.

Sigh of relief

The showers have brought much needed respite from heat and the people have heaved a sigh of relief as the eight major reservoirs which supply water to the metropolis had storage which could have lasted only till July 15. On Thursday, South Mumbai got 15.6 mm rains while the suburbs got 4.9 mm.

The intensity picked up on Thursday night with heavy showers in most parts of the city, suburbs, Navi Mumbai and surrounding areas of Thane and Raigad.

The weather bureau has forecast that isolated heavy to very heavy showers were expected in the next 24 hours.