Heavy rains, high tide disrupt Mumbai

Seven spots in the city received more than 100mm of rainfall between 8am and 6pm. During this period, the city received an average of 73.62mm of rainfall in the island city, 88.30mm in the eastern suburbs and 63.29mm in the western suburbs

Mumbai: Several low-lying areas in Mumbai and the suburbs witnessed water-logging after the city experienced ‘heavy’ to ‘very heavy’ rain from noon to 3pm on Friday, clubbed with a high tide of 4.21 metres during the afternoon.

Pravin Padwal, joint commissioner of police (traffic), said that since there was high tide at 2pm on Friday, traffic moved slowly in waterlogged areas. “Andheri Subway had to be closed due to excessive water logging. We deployed around 3,500 staff to manage the situation,” he said. (Vijay Bate/HT Photo)

Seven spots in the city received more than 100mm of rainfall between 8am and 6pm. During this period, the city received an average of 73.62mm of rainfall in the island city, 88.30mm in the eastern suburbs and 63.29mm in the western suburbs.

Due to waterlogged streets, 25 spots witnessed a slow movement in the traffic. Some spots which were listed are Gandhi Market, Highway apartment southbound traffic, SIES college, Dadar TT Junction, Lucky Junction, Khar Subway, Andheri Market SV Road, Andheri Subway, Kamani Junction, Kurla railway station, Sakinaka, and Dockyard Junction.

Pravin Padwal, joint commissioner of police (traffic), said that since there was high tide at 2pm on Friday, traffic moved slowly in waterlogged areas. “Andheri Subway had to be closed due to excessive water logging. We deployed around 3,500 staff to manage the situation,” he said.

Trains disrupted

Apart from the chaos in traffic, trains were also affected. At least 20 trains on the Central Railway (CR) were cancelled, and most trains were running late for more than 15 minutes.

“The morning peak hours were affected on the Western Railway (WR) owing to a technical failure at Goregaon at 6.34am. It was rectified at 6.49am,” said a WR official. This led to delays and some cancellations in train services between Churchgate-Borivali/Virar route. People complained that the delays were around 7-10 minutes in the morning hours, which improved as the day progressed.

The Harbour Line was affected severely after train services between Wadala and Mankhurd came to a standstill. “There was water logging at Kurla station on the Harbour line. As a precaution, the Down (towards Panvel end) line from Wadala to Mankhurd section was closed for suburban rail traffic. It opened at 3.10pm for rail traffic. We were running trains on the Mankhurd-Panvel section while all other sections were operational,” Dr Shivraj Manaspure, chief PRO, Central Railway, said.

BEST buses diverted

To add to their woes, commuters found themselves in a fix as several BEST buses were diverted across the city. In Vashi, a BEST bus collided with a police van in the morning. “We diverted 15 bus routes running in Sion, Hindmata and Chembur,” a BEST spokesperson said.

The diversion in Sion was from 1.35pm to 5pm. In Chembur, buses were diverted between 2.25pm to 5.30pm, and Hindmata was not accessible for BEST buses from 2.35pm and 4pm.

Autos, taxis menace

Meanwhile, commuters complained about auto rickshaws and taxis overcharging and refusing to ply due to the waterlogging. The auto and taxi unions said that around 10-15% of their vehicles were not on the road, especially in eastern suburbs and central Mumbai. The RTO officers stated that they received 25 complaints over refusal to ply and overcharging by autos and taxis in the last few days.