Mumbai Heavy rainfall since Tuesday night left many parts of Mumbai, including railway stations and hospitals, waterlogged on Wednesday.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted “enhanced rainfall activity along the west coast, including Mumbai”.
“Monsoon remained vigorous over the entire Konkan belt, including Mumbai, with heavy to very heavy rainfall over many places and isolated extremely heavy falls yesterday (Tuesday),” said the IMD press release. It has advised fishermen to not venture into the sea for next 24 hours.
Maharashtra’s Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar said that five companies of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are ready to be deployed.
From 8 p.m. on September 22 to 8 a.m. on September 23, the Mumbai city area received 256 mm rainfall while western and eastern suburbs received 237 mm and 158 mm rainfall respectively, said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. At some places, the rain intensity was as much as 70 mm per hour. Dadar and Dharavi in central Mumbai witnessed rainfall of 332 mm in 12 hours, said the BMC statement.
According to IMD data, Santacruz recorded 286.4 mm rainfall in 24 hours.
Nair Hospital, dedicated to COVID-19 care, was flooded after water rushed into the out-patient section. “This has been happening due to adjacent Metro construction work. Earlier, we never used to face such problem,” one of the medical personnel working at the hospital said, requesting anonymity.
Areas in central Mumbai such Chunabhatti, Parel, King Circle and Hindmata were inundated. Due to continuous heavy rain and waterlogging at Parel-Currey Road on the Main line and Vadala Road on Harbour line, suburban rail services were suspended between CSMT-Dadar and CSMT-Vashi. Shuttle services were running between Dadar-Kalyan and beyond and Vashi and Panvel. Around 30 BEST buses were trapped in water for some time.
Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal on Wednesday appealed to residents to not venture out unless in case of emergency. Government and private offices were given a holiday, keeping only emergency services on.
Mumbai city Guardian Minister Aaditya Thackeray said the civic administration has pumped out water almost equivalent to that in Tulsi lake. “Issues related to climate change are being faced not only in Mumbai but in all major cities of the world. While projects like Brimstowad (Brihanmumbai Stormwater Disposal) can be the answer, underground water holding tanks can also be thought of as an answer to flooding,” he said.
