Waterlogging in low-lying areas of Mumbai after incessant rains, slow road traffic in some areas

Incessant rains in Mumbai on Thursday caused waterlogging in some low-lying areas as well on railway tracks near Marine Lines in south Mumbai and road traffic slowed down in some parts of the city.

The civic body operated pumps to drain out water at Marine Lines and some other places. Commuters complained of waterlogging on tracks between Churchgate and Marine Lines stations, but the Western Railway said the train services was not disturbed.

Due to the rain and potholes on roads, traffic slowed down in some areas.

The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Mumbai centre issued a ‘red’ alert for Mumbai and neighbouring Raigad district on Thursday, predicting ”heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places”, a civic official said.

The island city, eastern and western suburbs received an average rainfall of 50.87 mm, 32.13 mm and 23.55 mm, respectively, from 8 am to 1 pm on Thursday.

For adjoining Thane and Palghar districts, the weather bureau has issued an ‘orange’ alert, with a forecast of heavy to very heavy downpour at isolated places, the official said.

For Friday, the IMD has issued a ‘yellow’ alert for Mumbai, predicting heavy rainfall at isolated places, he said.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had declared a holiday for all government and private schools and colleges here on Thursday.

”The BMC requests all citizens to stay alert, remain indoors and kindly follow instructions from the administration,” Mumbai civic commissioner and administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal said on Wednesday night.

In the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Thursday, the Colaba observatory (representative of the island city) recorded ”extremely heavy” rainfall at 223.2 mm, while the Santacruz observatory (representative of suburbs) recorded 145.1 mm rainfall, according to the IMD Mumbai.