Heavy rain lashes Thane, slows traffic to a crawl

The city received 256 mm of rainfall in 24 hours with the intensity of rain increasing after noon.

Heavy rain lashed Thane during the entire day on Wednesday, bringing life to a standstill. The city received 256 mm of rainfall in 24 hours with the intensity of rain increasing after noon.

Vehicle move through a flooded road at Thane on Wednesday. (Praful Gangurde)

Most schools, colleges and offices declared holiday on Wednesday owing to the predictions of heavy rains. The traffic though was extremely slow along the Eastern Express Highway.

Santosh Kadam, regional disaster management officer of Thane said, “The rain, which stopped on Wednesday morning, increased in the afternoon. The city witnessed more than 80 mm of rainfall after 12pm. We received around 12 complaints of waterlogging and nine trees fell.”

The traffic along Ghodbunder road was jammed owing to waterlogging at several places. The traffic was slow between Tatvadnyan signal to Patlipada during the peak hours.

Jagdish Shinde, police inspector, traffic said, “The traffic was moving at a snail’s pace along the Ghodbunder Road beyond Thane owing to water logging. There is waterlogging at three spots, including Kajupada, Kinara Hotel and Bamboo Bus. Around 15 to 20 traffic police are stationed at this road and trying to keep the traffic moving.”