Heavy rains paralyse life in Mumbai; road, rail traffic hit

MUMBAI: Heavy rains today lashed the metropolis, severely disrupting road, rail and suburban train services and inconveniencing lakhs of commuters and office goers.

"There is a traffic jam due to water logging in suburban Dadar, Parel, Chembur and LBS Marg in Ghatkopar. The Andheri subway has been closed down completely due to water logging. We have been getting distress calls from citizens right from the morning," a senior Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) official told PTI.

Traffic came to a halt on the Western Express Highway and on roads leading to the domestic airport from Kherwadi junction.

Mumbai suburban trains, the city's life line was worst-hit due to water logging on tracks, delaying local services upto more than a hour on some routes.

"There a few locations on the central railway like Kurla, Ghatkopar, Vikhroli and Bhandup where water has flooded the tracks and hence the main line is running late by about 20-25 minutes," a railway official said.

There is severe water logging on the Harbour line at stations like Kurla and Tilaknagar, which has resulted in the delay of train services by more than a hour, he said.

Several commuters were stranded for hours due to the rail traffic halt between Kurla and Chunabhatti stations, another official said.

However, train services on the Western line are running with a "small delay" on the Virar-Churchgate route.

"We are continuously monitoring the situation of water logging and trying our best to resolve the problem at the earliest. Since these are non-peak hours, the damage caused is comparatively less," the official added.

Flights from Mumbai airport are delayed by half an hour. Seven flights have been diverted due to heavy rains.

Meteorological department officials predict showers to continue for the next 48 hours after which the rainfall condition may slacken.

"So far we had a weak spell of rains in Mumbai. A low pressure has now formed over the Bay of Bengal which has caused rainfall in the city. We expect the rainfall to last with the same intensity for the next 48 hours and after that it may reduce," V K Rajeev, Director of Weather forecasting, Mumbai Meteorological department said.