Heavy rains lash Mumbai, seven killed

However, life is back to normal in some parts with trains resuming services.Flashback 2005 | Share your experience...

Life came to a stand-still in Mumbai as heavy monsoon rains continued to pound the city and its suburbs for the fourth straight day on Tuesday disrupting air, road and rail services and seven people were killed in rain-related incidents while more than 4,000 people from evacuated from water-logged areas.

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However, life in some parts of the city, which came to a halt following the torrential downpour, came back to normal on late Tuesday evening with train services on central and harbour line partially resuming after six pm.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Johny Joseph said 4,200 people were evacuated from low-lying areas along Mithi river.

Schools remained closed for the second day and would remain so on Wednesday also.

Traffic on central line between Dadar and Kalyan was restored while Harbour line was functioning between Chhatrapti Shivaji Terminus and suburban Bandra.

Seven long-distance trains on Central and Western lines were cancelled or rescheduled. Flights in and out of Bombay are taking off, albeit with delays.

About 40 domestic flights had to be cancelled in the morning while many others diverted with heavy rains bringing down the visibility at the Mumbai airport.

Several long-distance trains of Western and Central Railway were stranded at various stations causing inconvenience to scores of passengers at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai Central and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus at Kurla.

Heavy rains will continue on Wednesday, the Met Department has predicted.

Three persons died of electrocution at Kurar village in north Mumbai while three others drowned in a well in the north-western part of the city, police said.

One person died when the tree under which he had taken shelter from rain in northeast Mumbai collapsed, police said.

Elsewhere in the state, a 17 year old milk vendor was washed away in gushing waters in Seon village at Gadchiroli district in Vidarbha region on Tuesday, police said.

Suburban train services came to a grinding halt with flooding of railway tracks on Central and Western Railway, officials said.

With the public transport system in doldrums, there was also a thin attendance in offices in south Mumbai. A large number of people preferred to stay back home.

Heavy rains caused severe water-logging in areas like Bandra Band Stand, Bandra Chowpatty, Kurla, Central Mumbai areas like Parel, Kalachowkie, Dadar TT, suburban Ghatkopar, Kurla, Sion and Matunga in central Mumbai.

Western suburbs of Bandra, Vile Parle, Goregaon, Andheri were worst affected by the rains with water levels reaching chest-high in some areas.

Prominent subways like the Milan, Juhu, Dahisar subways were also flooded and civic authorities put rescue boats to use to ferry people in distress.

In some places, civic authorities provided life vests to help people move out of inundated areas to safer places.

Water from overflowing Powai lake in north-west Mumbai spilled surplus water in adjoining residential areas, sources said.

The city and its suburbs recorded 170 mm of rainfall since Monday, Meteorological Department said.

The IMD warned fishermen not to venture into the sea for the time being since the sea is expected to be rough due to heavy rains.

"More than 40 flights have been cancelled while another 10 have been diverted to some other destinations. All incoming flights have been diverted since noon," airport sources said.

Jet Airways has cancelled 25 flights on Tuesday while Air Deccan cancelled 15 incoming and outgoing flights from the Chhatrapati Shivaji International terminal in Mumbai.

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh sought to reassure Mumbaikars that all efforts were being made to avoid any calamity.

In view of the downpour, the Education Department has decided to extend the last date for first round of std 11th admissions process to July seven.

BEST has decided to press 300 additional buses into service considering the disrupted train network.

At a press conference on Tuesday evening, BMC Commissioner Johny Joseph told the reporters that widening and de-silting of Mithi rivers -- which happened after Bombay High Court order -- has made a considerable difference this year.

Despite very heavy rains, the water dispersed very quickly, he said.