Mumbai rain fury kills 5 in 24 hrs
Wall collapse crushes six vehicles, several areas see traffic snarls due to waterlogging as IMD warns of similar conditions over coming days
MUMBAI: Two teenagers and a 10-year-old were killed and a woman was seriously injured in Mumbai and neighbouring areas in rain-related incidents, after a downpour between Sunday night and Monday afternoon brought along with it the usual woes.
Water-logging at several locations across the city slowed down traffic, while the downpour delayed trains and flights. At Wadala, a wall collapsed into an adjoining under-construction site, crushing six cars and forcing residents of 240 apartments to vacate their flats as a precautionary measure.
Mumbai received its third highest one-day rain in June in 44 years, making it the wettest day and surpassing the average rainfall for the month.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), between 8.30am on Sunday and 8.30am on Monday, 231.4mm rain was recorded at the Santacruz weather station (representative of Mumbai) and 99mm at Colaba. The highest one-day rainfall is 399mm on June 10, 1991, followed by 283.4mm on June 19, 2015. Between 8.30am and 8.30pm on Monday, the weather stations at Santacruz and Colaba recorded a further 48.3mm and 43mm rain, respectively.
Since June 1, the Santacruz weather station has received 686.9mm rain, crossing June’s average rainfall of 523mm.
The weather bureau has predicted intermittent showers on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, 15-year-old Kiran Ghaywat died on Monday after a portion of the boundary wall of a sewage treatment plant (STP) in Ulhasnagar fell on his house at 1.30am. There were two cases of drowning in nullahs reported. While 10-year-old Vijay Pawar drowned in an overflowing nullah at Samrat Ashok Nagar in Kalwa, 18-year-old Nagendra Nagarjun fell into a nullah at Evershine Nagar in Malad. In Andheri, a part of a balcony of Jadhav Chawl collapsed on Rajkumari Gaud, 37, who was seriously injured.
COMMUTING TROUBLE
Commuters faced inconveniences as the lifeline of the city, the suburban local train, slowed down due to waterlogging in different areas.
Private cab aggregators along with autorickshaws and black and yellow taxis charged exorbitant fares from commuters.
A total of 100 local train services were delayed and 30 services were cancelled on Monday on the Western Railway (WR).
WR services were also affected during the morning peak hours on Monday due to a technical snag at Bandra railway station. Trains were operating with a delay of 20 minutes. Waterlogging near Vi- rar railway station also delayed the operations of local trains.