Heavy Rainfall slows down Mumbai

Heavy rainfall in Mumbai overnight and early on Wednesday morning has made life difficult for residents of the city. While areas in South Mumbai like Colaba received no rainfall, suburbs like Santa Cruz received 105 milimetres rainfall.

Local trains in Mumbai are running late as water has accumulated on the tracks. Trains on the Harbour Line of the suburban local network are running late by at least 25 minutes. "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 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) said.

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. 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," VK Rajeev, Director of Weather forecasting, Mumbai Meteorological department said.

Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/