Rain pounds Mumbai, people told to stay indoors, trains stopped

Heavy showers in Mumbai and neighbouring areas brought life to a juddering halt and disrupted rail and road traffic in the city on Tuesday, with essential services workers like nurses and other medical staff treating Covid-19 patients also finding it difficult to reach hospitals. State minister Aaditya Thackeray, who visited several areas in the city, said this is probably the heaviest rains Mumbai has seen in a “12-hour span”. Several areas in the city and suburbs received more than 200 mm rainfall since Monday night and heavy showers were likely to continue for the next 48 hours, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Several houses in low-lying areas like Kurla, Sion and parts of Bhandup were flooded due to the heavy downpour, a civic official said. Several vehicles, which suffered engine problems due to the heavy downpour, were seen lying abandoned on roads.

Here are the top 10 updates on Mumbai rains:

* The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) appealed to residents to stay at home and urged commercial establishments, except those providing essential services, to remain closed on Tuesday.

* The Maharashtra government also announced a holiday for all its offices in Mumbai city and suburbs on Tuesday in view of the heavy rainfall in the metropolis and neighbouring areas.

* State minister Aaditya Thackeray visited several areas, saying “work is on in full swing to drain out water from water logged areas”. The minister also said, in a tweet, that this is “perhaps for the first time after July 2005, Mumbai has experienced such heavy rains in a 12 hour span.

* A 35-year-old woman and her two children were swept away in a swollen nullah after their house collapsed due to heavy rainfall in suburban Santacruz here on Tuesday afternoon, an official said.

* Local train services, which are currently being operated only for those engaged in essential services, were suspended on some routes in Mumbai and suburbs in the morning due to water-logging on rail tracks.

* A landslide on the Western Express Highway, a major north-south arterial road, in suburban Kandivali affected vehicular movement from the western suburbs towards south Mumbai, though there was no casualty, officials said.

* Water-logging outside the civic-run Nair Hospital in central Mumbai, where several Covid-19 patients from the city are being treated, posed a problem for its medical staff. “Nurses and other medical staff have been struggling to reach the hospital due to water-logging in the premises and elsewhere, a resident doctor from the hospital said.

* Some incidents of tree fall were also reported, a civic official said, adding that a big tree fell on Andheri- SEEPZ road, disrupting traffic movement there.

* The Bombay High Court adjourned its virtual hearings in various cases as many staff members could not reach the court in south Mumbai, an official said. The high court will hear the matters on Wednesday, an official said.

* The city has been witnessing heavy rainfall since Monday night, leading to water-logging in several low-lying areas.

(With PTI inputs)