Heavy rain throws Mumbai out of gear

Heavy rain lashed Mumbai and its suburbs on Friday throwing the road and rail traffic out of gear.

Two cases of drowning were also reported from Mumbai — one in Girgaum chowpatty and another in a drain at Shivajinagar. There were delays ranging from 15 to 30 minutes at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) because of the heavy downpour and poor visibility.

People were seen wading through knee-deep water at several places and walking along the railway tracks.

The Mithi river, which runs through the city, also rose to the danger level. But as the rain receded, it was back to normal. The bouts of heavy rain were accompanied by strong winds.

According to the data collected from the Mumbai-based Regional Meteorological Observatory of the Indian Meteorological Department and the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, the commercial capital on an average received 80 to 130 mm rainfall.

All the four railway routes — the Main Line, Harbour Line and Trans-Harbour Line of the Central Railway and the Western Railway reported delays. In between, there were huge delays on the CR because of water-logging at Sion and Kurla.

Waterlogging was reported in roads at Sion, King's Circle, Chunabhatti, Hindmata and other areas.
Traffic crawled at a snail's pace at Eastern Express Highway, Western Express Highway, Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg, Swami Vivekananda Road, Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road and the Ghodbunder Road.

"While, 72 mm rain was recorded during the first three hours of the day between 8.30 and 11.30 am, another 54.6 mm of rainfall was observed over the maximum city. Thus, in a span of six hours, Mumbai recorded a whopping 126.6 mm rain. So far, in less than a week, Mumbai has recorded a good 307 mm of rain against its monthly rainfall of 529.7 mm," according to Skymet Weather.

Celebrities tweet
As it rained, celebrities took to Twitter to send out their reactions on the rain. "#mumbairains.. yes nature has been aggressive.. but do not panic all will be well.. happens to the best cities in the World !!," Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan tweeted. "Heavy rains in Mumbai turn our building's lawn into a lake! #mumbairains #Mumbai," said Kabir Bedi. "This is stay at home & have samosas & chai kind of weather. Yet some of us have to make a long traffic trudge & work.  #mumbairains," added reality TV anchor Mandira Bedi.

The popular hill stations like Mahabaleshwar, Matheran, Lonavala-Khandala, Marshes, Amboli and the roads and ghats leading to these places have been receiving heavy rainfall this week.  A lot of tourists, hikers and revellers are expected to hit these places over the weekend. In fact, at most of the places, the district and tehsil administration has issued caution for the tourists. Over the last four to five days, there has been a number of landslides and mudslides.
DH News Service