Mumbai rains: Uddhav asks authorities to clear out inundated areas

The chief minister directed the administration to also drain out the accumulated rainwater and resume transportation.

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday visited the disaster management cell of the Greater Mumbai civic body and surveyed the preparedness of the city as it received heavy rainfall. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday issued a red alert for Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts and said that these districts would receive very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places during the day.

A woman walks on a flooded road during heavy monsoon rains in Mumbai. (AFP)

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The chief minister directed the administration to also drain out the accumulated rainwater and resume transportation. Other than issuing directions to control rooms in Mumbai, the chief minister spoke to collectors of Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg and Palghar districts.

Following the heavy rains, the traffic police was forced to shut four subways which led to vehicle owners abandoning their vehicles on roads. The traffic police closed Milan, Khar, Andheri and Malad subways for motorists due to water-logging.

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Rains also led to suspension of local train services from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) to Thane and Vashi in Navi Mumbai, Sion and Chunabhatti. “In the morning between 9 am-10am in areas like Sion and Chunabhatti 55-60 mm rainfall was recorded. Owing to this, rain water came on the railway tracks. Currently road and railway traffic is affected only at three spots namely Dahisar subway, Sion and Chunabhatti,” Brihanmumbai Municipal Council (BMC) chief Iqbal Singh Chahal said.

Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar said that no claims regarding chances of waterlogging were mentioned earlier. “No-one has claimed that there will be no water logging in Mumbai due to heavy rainfall, nor can anyone make such a claim. But after waterlogging, if the water does not recede within 4 hours, in that scenario we can say that pre-monsoon work was not done properly,” Pednekar said.

The city police asked Mumbai citizens to step out of their homes unnecessarily and asked them not to travel to inundated areas. Though there have been no reports of injuries or deaths due to the rain, heavy rains led to damage of vehicles as a wall collapsed in Savarkar Nagar in Thane.