Mumbai: Rain floods parts of city, slows trains

Sporadic spells of unseasonal rain moderate to heavy at certain pockets caught Mumbaikars off guard on Friday It was enough to flood the Andheri subway forcing authorities to shut the traffic through the underpass for over an hour The showers also slowed down the local trains on Central RailwayMeteorologists attributed the weather condition to the late withdrawal of the monsoon as well as low pressure in the Bay of BengalThere was no report of any major diversion of bus routes from the BEST undertakingAlso Read JJrsquos crumbling hostel State Human Rights Commission summons hospitalrsquos dean PWDThe Andheri subway was closed around 350 pm for dewatering after water levels rose up to 2 feet At 526 pm the Mumbai Traffic Police tweeted ldquoAndheri subway is open for vehicular movementrdquo At every moderate spell of rain the subway has remained closed for traffic this monsoonA spell of heavy showers lashes the Mahatma Phule Market at Fort on Friday PicSatej ShindeRanjan DesaiKamath a software consultant at Byculla said he was caught unawares by the unexpected rain ldquoIt suddenly became dark and started pouring I did not have an umbrella and was drenched in a 10minute walk to my office from the stationrdquoThe India Meteorological Department has predicted thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and light to moderate rain accompanied by gusty winds 30 to 40 kmph in Mumbai Thane and adjoining areas for Saturday Moderate rain is also expected for Sunday it saidThe scene on S V Road Santacruz PicSayyed Sameer AbedildquoThe monsoon has not withdrawn and is still present in Mumbai and there is a significant level of moisture in the air Because of this there is no clear projection of a monsoon retreat anytime soon light to moderate rainfall will persist throughout the city and suburban area for the next few days This has a direct impact on the daily temperature and an increase in temperature as expected in the month of October is unlikely as long as the rains continuerdquo IMD scientist Sushma NairWeather scientists said any rain after September 30 is considered unusualThe island city eastern and western suburbs received an average of 105 mm 912 mm and 128 mm rainfall respectively between 11 am and 2 pm on Friday a civic official saidExplaining the weather system that is leading to the rainfall Mahesh Palawat the chief meteorologist at Skymet Weather a private weather forecasting agency said ldquoThe entire western and northwestern part of India is experiencing an unusual weather pattern this year which is not letting the temperature rise during Octoberrdquo As per Skymet there is a chance of a monsoon withdrawal postOctober 13As per Vagaries of Weather the thundershowers in Mumbai today are neither unusual nor alarming Rajesh Kapadia who is involved with the popular weather blog said ldquoMumbai MMR Pune and Nashik districts can receive thundershowers and likely rainthundershowers may persist over the weekend Mumbai Monsoon can persist into next weekrdquoRainfall up to 630 pm49mmCooper Hospital37mmRam Mandir61mmVersova pumping station47mmJogeshwari railway stationCommuterspeakR Venkat Shipping Corporation employeelsquoThe 556 pm AC fast local started from Mumbai CSMT late stopped at Byculla and was made slow after that Otherwise services seemed fine throughout the day The rain has stopped now and I hope to reach home on timersquoKaran Jotwani Andheri residentlsquoMy journey back from work took one more hour as the Andheri subway was shut and Gokhale bridge was jammed Some permanent solution is needed for this subway floodingrsquoSumit G Andheri residentlsquoOn my way home I had to return from Andheri subway as it was closed for traffic due to waterlogging From Andheri East WEH I went to JVLR junction and then took the Balasaheb Thackeray flyover to reach the westrsquo