Mumbai Rains: Civic authorities battle five-hour deluge, Met department forecasts moderate rain over next 24 hours

A spell of heavy rains lashed Mumbai city and its outskirts on Friday morning, slowing down road and rail traffic.

The Meteorological Office has predicted that the financial capital will receive moderate rainfall along with few heavy spells over the course of the next 24 hours. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), during five hours on Friday morning, the weather station recorded an average rainfall of 43.23 mm in the island city, with 64.14 mm in the eastern suburbs. 

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The civic body stated that the traffic flow has become slow even as services of the Central and Western Railways were affected due to the deluge. 

"The city has recorded moderate rainfall in the last few hours. So far, no untoward incident or major water-logging has been reported at the Disaster Management Cell," a senior civic official said.

Meanwhile, heavy showers will also have a positive impact, civic officials said, citing that these rains will help in improving reservoir stocks which supply water to the metropolis. Since the monsoon was delayed, the civic administration had been forced to use the reserve stocks of water which are sourced from the lakes to fulfill the needs of Mumbaikars. 

Suburban train services which are a lifeline to the city were delayed by 10 to 15 minutes, the officer added. In addition, a BMC spokesperson said that the ongoing metro rail work and water logging at some places, few BEST buses were diverted from their usual routes. 

Visuals of heavy waterlogging in areas like Sion and Chembur Postal Colony were also accessed, the former being a major junction in the city. A traffic jam on the key Eastern Express Highway also severely affected the movement of vehicles. Similarly, other areas too were impacted, the BMC official said. One of the subways in the suburbs of Andheri had to be shut down because of water-logging. But the situation was resolved, the BMC confirmed in a tweet:

The Central hub of Thane Railway Station witnessed water-logging on the tracks and the local civic administration were alerted by the Central Railway(CR). 

"Water entered on tracks from the city area. The TMC (Thane Municipal Corporation) has been informed. The TMC is sending officials to check and do the needful. Our officers are there to help," CR chief spokesperson Sunil Udasi said.

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In a statement, the Western Railway said that teams accompanied by RPF jawans have been deployed at different locations to ensure hassle-free operation of trains. 

"Tracks and signals are working well without any failure. Train operation is normal. Today we received a few mail express trains late at Surat from Vadodara due to heavy rains in Vadodara division," the statement read.

(With PTI Inputs)