Stay indoors, says BMC

Three days of incessant rains threw life out of gear in the city on Monday. Submerged tracks and traffic snarls were the order of the day.

The city also witnessed an early exodus of people from offices as the day passed and showers became more intense. As a result, BEST buses remained heavily crowded between 5 pm and 7 pm.

The city municipal corporation’s late evening requesting people to stay indoors added to fear as people were seen rushing for trains or buses to reach home.

This, however, fuelled concern that the city’s civic administration may fail again. “We have asked people to remain alert, keeping the weather forecast in mind,” a spokesperson for the city’s civic authorities said.

According to a BMC spokesperson, heavy to very heavy showers are likely to lash the city in the next 48 hours. “We are prepared to face any eventuality but wish to forewarn people as well,” he said.

The BMC’s warning comes in the wake of last year’s series of gaffes that attracted severe criticism. More than 400 people died due to rains and at least 179 succumbed to post-flooding infections last year when on July 26 the city received 949 mm of rainfall, the heaviest in a century.

The city’s administration since then has worked on evacuation plans, cleaned up sewer lines and dredged silted waterways to prevent a recurrence. “We are fully conscious of the security needs and will send out alerts through the mobile-phone network if the situation is bad,” Mumbai’s municipal commissioner Johny Joseph said.

On Monday evening, the MET department forecast around 250 mm of rain in the island city and suburbs in the following 48 hours. A similar warning has been sounded for other regions of the state, including Konkan, Central Maharashtra, Marathwada, and Vidarbha.

According to the publicity wing of the state government, some dilapidated buildings of MHADA on VP Road, CP Tank area, and Girgaum were partially damaged by the rains. In Maharashtra, the tourist hub of Mahabaleshwar received the maximum rain — 342.70 mm — till Monday evening.