Rain brings Mumbai to halt
nMUMBAI: Two people, one of them a railways employee, died of electrocution amid the record rain that slammed the city, according to officials.
Shambhu Soni, 38, a resident of Anand Nagar in Dahisar (East), was electrocuted by a short circuit at 9.46am on Wednesday and he was rushed to Bharat Ratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar hospital in Kandivli, where he was declared brought dead. A railway employee identified by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as Sanjeev, 22, was electrocuted to death while on duty near Masjid Bunder railway station on
Wednesday. Officials said the tracks at the station were submerged under 1.5 feet of water , following which Kumar got into the waterlogged area to inspect a pump placed by BMC. He was declared dead at the hospital.
The exceptionally heavy rain of 331.2mm rain in 24 hours, accompanied by chaotic winds ranging from 70-80kmph, between Wednesday and Thursday not only broke the record for this season, but was the highest monsoon rain record for south Mumbai in 46 years and secondhighest all-time rain record during monsoon, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday. The highest all-time record was on July 5, 1974 with 575.6 mm rain in 24 hours. The Colaba weather station, representative of south Mumbai, recorded 331.2 mm (exceptionally heavy) rain between 8.30am Wednesday and 8.30am Thursday. This was also the all-time high one-day rain in August. Over the past 72 hours (August 3, 8.30am to August 6, 8.30am), Mumbai saw its heaviest rain spell this season with the island city recording 637.2mm rain in south Mumbai and 505.2 mm rain in the suburbs.
On Thursday, part of the second floor in a ground-plus-fourstorey structure in Dadar collapsed afternoon. The incident was reported at 12.30 pm, no injuries were reported.