Heavy rains disrupt normal life in Mumbai suburbs

Heavy rains lashed Mumbai’s three adjoining districts -- Palghar, Thane and Raigad -- on Saturday inundating railway tracks and roads and disrupting normal life.

Weathermen have forecast heavy to very heavy rains in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) on Sunday.

The weekend getaway plans of several families went haywire because of the bunching of vehicles on the roads.

In Mumbai's Mankhurd-Ghatkopar area, one person was electrocuted to death while a five-year-old was injured.

The train services between Kalyan and Karjat, which is part of the larger Mumbai-Pune network of the Central Railway (CR), was disrupted as water flooded the tracks in Kalyan, Badlapur and Karjat areas.

The streams and rivers along the Western Railway (WR) route to Palghar district have also swelled. However, there was no impact on the traffic.

A report from Vasai said that at least 40 people were trapped in flood waters near the Chinchoti Waterfalls. However, on receiving an SOS message, the district disaster management teams reached there and rescued 35 of them. Efforts are underway to track down the five others, reports reaching here said.

According to the Mumbai-based Regional Meteorological Centre, in the last 36 hours, several places in Palghar, Thane and Raigad districts received over 100 to 200 mm rainfall.

In Palghar district, Wada received 230 mm rainfall, while Jawhar and Vikramgad received 180 mm and 100 mm, respectively.

In Thane district, Murbad received 220 mm and Shahpur 190 mm rains. At Rayta bridge in Titwala, water flowed above the danger mark.

The hill station of Matheran in Raigad district, received 190 mm rainfall, while Karjat received 150 mm rainfall. The Savitri river in Raigad was flooding at several places.

The hill station of Mahabaleshwar in Satara too received over 150 mm rainfall and so did the Lonavla-Khandla twin hill stations near Pune.

A warning to fishermen has been issued. They have been asked not to venture into the Arabian Sea till Monday.

The IMD has also issued port warning along the Maharashtra-Goa coast. The Central Railway cancelled the Mumbai-Pune Deccan Express on Saturday and Sunday because of prevailing weather conditions and the forecast. The Karjat-Pune-Karjat passenger of Sunday too stands cancelled.

“Currently, a cyclonic circulation lies over Chhattisgarh and adjoining area. Another cyclonic circulation is seen over Marathwada in the higher levels. An off-shore is running from South Gujarat Coast to Kerala Coast across Maharashtra Coast,” according to Skymet Weather.

"Therefore, we expect rainfall activity to continue with moderate to heavy rains along with few extremely heavy showers along the West Coast. Rainfall activity will increase over Marathwada and North Madhya Maharashtra. Vidarbha may also witness heavy spells during the next 24 hours including parts of Marathwada," it said.

Mumbai will also see moderate to heavy rains over many parts. These rains are likely to continue for another 24-48 hours. Places such as Akola, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Chandrapur, Wardha, Jalna, Nanded will receive moderate to heavy rains with isolated very heavy showers.