MUMBAI: Heavy rains have been lashing Mumbai since evening, with more than 200 mm in the eastern suburbs. Central Railway trains have stopped running and Western Railway services have been suspended; flooding has been reported in many places; endless queues have formed at and outside railway stations; fares for rickshaws and taxis have shot up; and traffic has come to a standstill on countless roads. In Titwala, two young men were killed and two others injured while working in a stone quarry when the heavy rains caused a power surge.

The India Meteorological Department updated its forecast at 5:30 p.m. to red alert till 8 a.m. Thursday, warning of extremely heavy rainfall with thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds in isolated areas. The alert was downgraded from orange to yellow in the forecast at 1 p.m. earlier in the day and then upgraded twice.

A low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal, the associated cyclonic circulation, a trough from North Konkan and a shear zone contributed to the rains, along with thunder and lightning. The orange alert has been issued for Thursday, predicting heavy to very heavy rains. Holidays have been declared for all schools and colleges.

Between 5pm and 10pm, several places in the eastern suburbs recorded rainfall exceeding 200mm: Mankhurd 276mm, Powai 274.2mm and Ghatkopar 259mm, bringing the average rainfall in these areas to 167.48mm.

The western suburbs followed with an average rainfall of 95 mm, with Andheri East recording 190 mm, Marol 176 mm and Malpa Dongri 166 mm. While the city recorded the least average rainfall of 87.79 mm between 5 pm and 10 pm, several places recorded rainfall amounts in excess of 100 mm; Sewri with 147 mm, Wadala with 146 mm and Sion with 142 mm were the top three.

During the daytime hours from 8 am to 6 pm, the eastern suburbs received the most rain at 28.31 mm, followed by the city and western suburbs at 8.11 mm and 8.30 mm, respectively. In the 24 hours up to 8.30 am on Wednesday, the Colaba Observatory had recorded 41 mm of rain and Santacruz 74 mm.

Thereafter, the rain increased, bringing with it lightning and thunder. Within the next hour, rainfall of about 40 mm was recorded at several places in the city and eastern suburbs, with Mankhurd recording 41 mm and Fort 40 mm. Turbhe recorded 38 mm and Colaba 37 mm.

At 7 pm, the IMD issued a warning of heavy rain with gusty winds of 40-50 kmph for the next three to four hours. The BMC then directed all deputy district commissioners to station a senior engineer in the district control room for the night and keep watch in case of emergency. Deputy chief engineers for each zone were also directed to be present. Storm water sewerage workers were directed to be on site and operate the drainage pumps. AMCs and DMCs were on site to keep watch.

Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani was at the BMC headquarters and along with other municipal commissioners were monitoring the situation from the disaster control room.

Between 6pm and 9pm, Fort received 87mm of rain, Marine Lines and Ghatkopar followed with 70mm. Airoli, Vashi, Khairna and Ghansoli also recorded downpours of over 80mm. Colaba, Memonwada, Chembur and Kopri recorded over 60mm of rain.

Traffic and waterlogging

Several feet of water was seen at many places, such as Vikhroli Railway Station, Chembur, Bhandup, Hindmata, Parel TT, SV Road near Jogeshwari West, Coastal Road exit and Bhulabhai Desai Road. Commuters faced over five hours of delay in reaching their destinations as traffic congestion caused by the flood occurred across the city, especially on the Western and Eastern Express Highways.

“Over 2,000 traffic policemen have been deployed on streets across the city to facilitate traffic flow,” said a traffic police officer.

Taxis and cars

Neither auto-rickshaws nor taxis were available outside several railway stations in Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, causing huge inconvenience to commuters. Not only were services difficult to get through the taxi apps, but fare hikes also reached 80 to 100 percent.

BEST buses

At least 45 BEST buses have been diverted or restricted on routes to Chembur Naka, Chembur, SG Barve Marg, Malad Station, Nehru Nagar in Kurla, Bhandup stretch of LBS Road, Shell Colony, VN Purav Marg, Sion, LBS Road in Kurla, Gol Deval and Bhendi Bazaar.

Rail transport

On the main Central Railway line, local trains from CSMT to Thane were delayed by up to 20 minutes at 8:15 p.m. In the opposite direction, trains were backed up between Thane and Kurla as they had come to a standstill, stranding thousands of passengers. The tracks were submerged in water at several places.

Between 8.45pm and 9pm, several WR trains were cancelled. Track work between Goregaon and Kandivali resulted in speed restrictions for trains and heavy rains further complicated commuter traffic.

Flights

At Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, seven flights were diverted by 8:09 pm. By 9:56 pm, 14 flights were diverted to Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Goa and Udaipur. There were many more incoming flights that were delayed, which had a cascading effect on departures. All airlines issued alerts through various communication channels, asking their passengers to check the status of their flight and reach the airport on time.