Mumbai rains: Roads flooded, public transport hit as heavy showers pound city

Monsoon arrived in Mumbai with heavy rains lashing the city and suburbs since early Wednesday morning causing waterlogging at many areas and disrupting local train servicesThe India Meteorological Department IMD issued a red alert for Mumbai and neighbouring Thane Palghar and Raigad districts warning of very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places there The heavy downpour caused waterlogging in various parts of the city prompting the traffic police to shut four subways and forcing motorists to abandon their vehicles on roadsMonsoon onset on 9 Jun in Mumbai amp other parts of Mah as reported by Regional Met Center Mumbai todayMs Shubhangi Bhute Head Regional weather forecasting center Mumbai hereNext 45 days severe weather in konkan very likelyPlease see IMD updates pictwittercomFZqesvnLalmdash K S Hosalikar Hosalikar_KS June 9 2021The heavy downpour also disrupted local train services which are running only for personnel engaged in health and other essential services and are out of bound for general commuters in view of the Covid19 pandemic While there were fewer vehicles on the city roads amid the downpour motorcyclists and other twowheeler riders were unable to manoeuvre their vehicles at some of the flooded placesWaterlogging at Chunabhatti station PicPradeep DhivarThe traffic police closed Milan Khar Andheri and Malad subways for motorists due to waterlogging at these places We have closed the subways due to waterlogging of up to two feet at these junctions However traffic is smooth on the SV Road Linking Road and the Western Express Highway So far no traffic congestion has been reported Deputy Commissioner of Police Traffic Western Suburbs Somnath Gharge told PTIHeavy rains caused low visibility and increased the risk of accidents hence the traffic police personnel are on roads to prevent such incidents the official said Cranes were used to clear roads on which motorists had abandoned their vehicles due to waterlogging he added The city police appealed to Mumbaikars not to step out of their homes unnecessarily and cautioned them against travelling to some of the inundated areas Mumbai and its suburbs experienced thunderstorms along with moderate to intense spells of rainfall during the day it addedLow visibility at Mumbai roads PicShadab KhanSuburban train services from Mumbais Chhatrapati Shivaji MaharajTerminus CSMT to neighbouring Thane and Vashi in Navi Mumbai were suspended due to waterlogging on tracks officials said Routes of some BEST buses run by the city civic bodys transport wing were diverted to avoid flooded streets they said According to the IMD the western suburb of Santacruz recorded 1648 mm rain in six hours from 830 am to 230 pm while Colaba in south Mumbai recorded 322 mm rain during the same period Its monsoon arrival in Mumbai today Dr Jayanta Sarkar head of the India Meteorological Departments IMD Mumbai office said in the morningSpeaking to midday an IMD official said ldquoAs per our forecast the city wonrsquot experience heavy rainfall on Thursday even though an Orange alert has been issued for the next four days However from Friday onwards there will be extremely heavy rainfallrdquo The official further explained ldquoThe monsoon has arrived early due to the presence of favorable conditions that are prevailing like Southwesterly winds and upper air atmosphere combined with rainfall These conditions have been met which is why the monsoon has arrived two days earlyrdquo from June 11 to June 9With inputs from PTI and Gaurav Sarkar