Mumbai comes to a standstill after heavy rainfall

Mumbai: Barely a week into monsoon on Friday, Mumbai and its surroundings were paralyzed as heavy rains lashed the areas since Thursday evening.

The lifeline of the city, the suburban railway network, has been hit hard with water-logging on railway tracks, preventing office-goers from reaching their destinations.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned of heavy rainfall in Mumbai, coastal Konkan and other parts over the next two days accompanied by strong winds touching 60 knots and very rough seas.

While the Central Railway (CR) and Harbour Line, and Western Railway (WR) managed to start a few services for the day in the early hours, they were delayed and later suspended in the city, rail officials and the BMC Disaster Cell said.

However, services continued on the mainland beyond Thane, Karjat-Kasara and Panvel sections of CR and beyond Vasai on WR.

Long distance trains on all sections have been severely hit with trains halted at various stations en route on the Mumbai to Gujarat, New Delhi, Nagpur, Pune and Goa routes.

The civic body has advised people not to send their children to schools and Mumbaikars have been told to venture out only if necessary in view of the heavy rains expected to lash the city over the next 24 hours.

Meanwhile, heavy water logging and flooding has been reported at various locations around the city including Dadar, Parel, Byculla, Mazagaon, Mahim, Santacruz, Juhu, Vile Parle, Worli, Sion, Chunabhatti, Andheri, Kurla, Borivali, Dahisar, Jogeshwari and other areas preventing movement of road traffic.

Mumbai's Mayor Snehal Ambekar said that over 100 pumps are being operated to flush out the excess waters flooding the city and advised people not to ventures to beaches or near seashores.

Around 250 special buses have been deployed to ferry commuters who have been stranded in different parts of the city as the suburban train services have collapsed.

Meanwhile, Mumbai city recorded around 170 mm and suburbs averaged around 155 mm rainfall till Friday morning. (IANS)