Mumbai returns to normalcy but commuting woes continue

After two days of complete disruption, India's commercial capital limped back to normalcy on Wednesday after rains subsided.

However, flight operations from the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, one of the busiest in the world, continue to be affected for the second consecutive day.

Meanwhile, the death toll in the Kurar wall collapse mounted to 26.

More than 110 persons were injured of which 70-odd are still undergoing treatment.

Between Friday and Tuesday, parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) received rainfall between 400 and 600 mm on an average.

In the last five days, more the 35 persons died in the MMR in various rain-related incidents.

On Tuesday, when the suburban areas recorded between 350 to 400 mm rainfall - it was the second highest after the 26 July 2005 deluge, when it registered 944 mm rainfall.

On Wednesday, the Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR) were overcrowded with people facing severe inconvenience. The CR, in the wake of IMD forecast of heavy rains, started off with curtailed service like that of a Sunday but had to revert to normal operations. There was a heavy crowd at the Dombivli station.

The operations at the Mumbai airport continued to be affected.

On Tuesday, 203 flights had to be cancelled as the main runway was rendered unoperational after a SpiceJet Boeing overshot the main runway.

By Wednesday, nearly 100 flights had to be cancelled as the aircraft was yet to be pulled back. There is NOTAM (notice to airmen) from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) till Wednesday midnight. "Besides the cancellations because of main runway unavailability, the operations were normal on the secondary runway," officials said.

The CSIA has two runways - while the main runway can handle 48 flights per hour, the secondary runway can only 35 during the same period.

There was heavy traffic on arterial roads of MMR including the Eastern express highway, Western express highway, Ghodbunder road, Sion-Panvel route.

A cow got stuck in a gutter in Kandivli West, however, after lot of efforts, it was rescued by firemen and civic staff.