Mumbai Rain: Heavy rainfall lashed parts of Maharashtra's capital city Mumbai on Friday. Railway and bus services were affected following the heavy dowpour causing inconvenience to lakhs of office-goers.
According to news agency PTI, incessant rain with intermittent heavy spells led to waterlogging on some roads and railway tracks, slowing down public transport services. The suburban trains, considered Mumbai's lifeline, are running at least 15 to 20 minutes late, said commuters.
Amid the heavy downpour, the IMD issued an orange alert for Friday, indicating heavy to very heavy rainfall in isolated places.
A railway official said water has accumulated on tracks at Chunabhatti on the Harbour line due to heavy rain coupled with high tide. High tide and heavy showers can potentially cause flooding in low-lying areas as water doesn’t flow into the sea during that time.
The movement of trains has slowed down a bit, he stated. Services on the Main line of the Central Railway were delayed due to a technical glitch in a train engine, officials said. Western Railway claimed that its suburban services were “running”.
In the 24 hours ending at 8 am, Mumbai’s island city recorded an average rainfall of 78 mm. The figure for eastern Mumbai and western Mumbai was 57 mm and 67 mm rainfall, respectively, a civic official said. The Mumbai centre of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted moderate to heavy rains in the city.
On Thursday, heavy showers in the maximum city caused waterlogging in several areas. The residents in Mumbai were complaining that low-lying areas like Gandhi Market, Dadar, Hindmata, Parel, Andheri Subway, and Sion were waterlogged, due to which traffic slowed down.
However, a spokesperson of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said there was no report of waterlogging, as reported by news agency PTI.