Heavy rains cause waterlogging across Mumbai

Heavy rain battered Mumbai and its suburbs on Sunday causing widespread disruptions The downpour led to severe traffic issues with Andheri and Khar subways closing due to waterlogging However the impact was somewhat mitigated as it was a Sunday Flight operations were briefly suspended owing to poor visibility and bus services were diverted over waterlogging The railways did not report any disruptionsAccording to traffic police the Maharashtra Nagar subway in Trombay was inundated with four feet of water Traffic came to a standstill in several areas including Lal Bahadur Shastri Road LBS Road in Kurla West Shell Colony in Chembur Sangram Nagar in Wadala and the Hindmata to Parel TT stretchTraffic on the WEH in Santacruz PicAtul Kamble Water entering the houses near the sea in Bandra PicAtul Kamble Andheri subway had to be shut on Sunday PicSatej ShindeSeveral vehicles were stranded on inundated roads in Wadala and Matunga in central Mumbai the official said Advocate Trivan Kumar Karnani founder of the citizen group MNCDF said We received complaints of waterlogging from SV Road Vile Parle and Khar Water pumps were deployed and the situation was eventually clearedAkansha Patankar a resident of Andheri East reported waterlogging while travelling from DN Nagar via Juhu Circle and Gokhale Bridge Roads at all junctions and signals were waterlogged The area from Juhu Circle to Barfiwala Bridge had waterlogging at multiple places she said Another Andheri West resident Khushrav Adenwalla said I came from Peddar Road to Andheri and saw water stagnation on every road causing traffic to slow downFlooded road after heavy rain at Hindmata in Parel PicAshish RajeA resident of Mira Road complained From Dahisar to Mira Road every inch of the asphalt road including the highway is packed with potholes Sanjeev DrsquoSouza a Bandra West resident said This time Bandra residents surprisingly did not face issues with heavy waterlogging Usually our resident groups are flooded with complaints There is always someone reporting an open manhole but it seems the BMCs water pumping efforts have workedNikhil Desai from Hindmata said Despite spending Rs 200 crore Hindmata still faces severe waterlogging and drainage has not improved The BMC disaster control room received around 700 to 750 calls about various incidents While officials reported no new flooding hotspots locals noted more waterlogging spots than usual due to the intense rainHuge tides were seen at Dadar Chowpatty PicAnurag AhireCitys lifelines Trains WR services slowed down but remained largely unaffected On the Central Railway trains were disrupted At Nahur and Kurla the tracks were down due to waterlogging at 329 pm Trains are running with delays a spokesperson saidBuses Several BEST buses were diverted from their usual routes Due to waterlogging on LBS Road in Kurla BEST bus routes 22 and 25 were rerouted via the WEH Kalanagar Dharavi T Junction and Sion Bus route 332 on LBS Road in Kurla was curtailed at Sakinaka Similarly BEST bus route 167 was diverted via Sant Rohidas Marg and Senapati Marg due to waterlogging on Murudkar Marg in Prabhadevi Additional diverted routes from the Anik bus depot include bus routes 363 and 430 which were rerouted via RCF Railway BridgeFlights Flight operations at T2 were suspended twice for a brief period due to inclement weather and low visibility a source said At least 15 flights were diverted to the nearby airports mainly Ahmedabad till 4 pmOfficials on high alertChief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday instructed officials to be on high alert in light of heavy rain in several parts of MaharashtraChaos in Navi MumbaiAround 50 tourists were stranded at a waterfall near CBD Belapur and a rescue operation was underway at the time of going to press Waterlogging was reported from Nerul Koparkhairani Vashi and SanpadaYouth Congress leaders protesting in AndheriProtesting in the rainYouth Congress workers decided to take out a unique protest against the Eknath Shinderun government by showing up in two boats at waterlogged Veera Desai Road in Andheri West a little before Country ClubIt could rain all weekIMD has said rain will continue till the end of the week ldquoThe frequency of rainfall will reduce after July 25rdquo said an IMD official ldquoOver the next four to five days Mumbai will get frequent showers some of which will be heavy The weather can be windy at times Rain can increase over Mumbairsquos watersupplying lakesrdquo said Rajesh Kapadia of Vagaries of Weather a private weather blogPrivate weather agency Skymet Weather stated ldquoMumbai is likely to continue to see heavy rain till the end of the weekrdquo