Heavy rain in the Konkan region and western Maharashtra have caused 10 deaths over the past two days. After weeks of no rains and searing humidity, even Mumbai got light showers through the day in the suburbs on Friday.
At least 10 people, including eight from one family, were buried alive in a landslide in Rajapur in Sindhudurg district. A number of roads have also caved in, affecting traffic.
Rail traffic has also been hit. Konkan Railway (KR) terminated one train, rescheduled three, cancelled four and diverted one via another route. Passengers were stranded at smaller stations.
“Railway services have been affected due to water logging and soil slippage in Karwar, and between Cancona and Asnoti near Goa,” Siddheshwar Telugu, KR’s chief spokesperson said.
Andheri resident Abhijit Sabaji, who was trying to return to Mumbai from Goa said: “The roads are jammed due to landslides, and vehicles are struggling to reach the Mumbai-Goa highway. Trains services too have suffered due to water logging on tracks at Chiplun.”
Police officers monitoring the highway at Chiplun said there were problems till Thursday, but that things have improved since then. Vehicles are using one lane of the highway, after the landslide and fallen trees blocked the other lane. With the easing of the rain, the process of clearing the debris has accelerated.
{{/usCountry}}Police officers monitoring the highway at Chiplun said there were problems till Thursday, but that things have improved since then. Vehicles are using one lane of the highway, after the landslide and fallen trees blocked the other lane. With the easing of the rain, the process of clearing the debris has accelerated.
{{/usCountry}}In Mumbai, while the eastern suburbs recorded a rainfall of 7.6 mm, the western suburbs got 3.4 mm; the city saw a total of 0.6 mm from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm. Road, rail and air traffic remained largely unaffected, officials said, adding that there were no reports of any major water logging in the city.