Mumbai's first proper monsoon showers trigger waterlogging, traffic snarls, 45 tree falls across city

With first proper rains of the season lashing the city commuters complained of waterlogging slowmoving traffic and falling trees making it a very wet Wednesday There were treebranch falls at 45 locations between 8 am and 6 pm with 12 in the city nine in the eastern suburbs and 24 in the western suburbs but no injuries to anyonePowai lake one of the key artificial water bodies in the area administered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC began overflowing around 530 am on Wednesday The lake has a storage capacity of 545 crore litres and is used exclusively for industrial purposes Its overflow marks a significant milestone in the monsoon season reflecting the impact of sustained rainfall across Mumbai over the past several daysEarly in the morning the Andheri subway was flooded following heavy rain forcing authorities to shut it to vehicular traffic Conditions on Veera Desai Road in Andheri West were no better with waterlogging leading to slowmoving traffic and delays for commuters Water accumulation was also reported near Lokhandwala in Andheri West and near the Oshiwara signal close to SV Road affecting movement in the areaThe Andheri subway a chronic flooding spot is inundated in rainwater on Wednesday PICSATUL KAMBLETrees come crashing downA tree collapsed in Dadar East falling onto parked vehicles inside the Madhavi Nivas compound amid heavy rainfall There were reports of similar occurrences at Nehru Nagar in Kurla Marol Military Road and Churchgate Shivaji Park was also inundated with large portions of the iconic ground being submerged following heavy showersTechnical issues bedevil railway linesWestern Railway WR suburban services witnessed delays on Wednesday morning due to a series of operational and technical issues rather than rainfall According to railway officials the first disruption occurred after a person trespassing on the tracks between Prabhadevi PBHD and Dadar affected the down fast line between 916 am and 932 amPedestrians and motorists go about their day as heavy rainfall results in waterlogging on the SV Road stretch near the Andheri subway on Wednesday PicsAtul KambleShortly afterwards the 12954 August Kranti Rajdhani Express bound for Mumbai Central Terminus from Hazrat Nizamuddin was delayed between 914 am and 920 am due to an air pressure drop between Dahisar and Borivli stations impacting train movements on the corridorWR also reported technical issues with the automatic doors of an airconditioned local train which added to delays Officials clarified that the disruptions were caused by these operational incidents and not by rain despite wet weather in parts of the city Services gradually returned to normal after the issues were attended toCentral Railwayrsquos Harbour Line services were also briefly affected early on Wednesday after an overhead equipment OHE wire split on the CSMTbound line near Nerul at 452 am Railway officials said restoration work was completed by 545 am following which train services resumed on the affected section Operations have since been restored though some services experienced minor delays during the disruption and morning rush hourSlab collapseA 45yearold man Suraj Prakash Lokhande lost his life after a portion of the ceiling slab of his bedroom collapsed on him in Kamothe Navi Mumbai during the early hours of Wednesday amid continuous heavy rainfall His young daughter also sustained injuries in the incidentUlwe reels under rainfallSevere waterlogging crippled traffic in Ulwe inundating the APMC wholesale market At the Wahal entry and exit points vehicles remained stranded for hours What is usually a fiveminute drive from Wahal to the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation NMMC headquarters in Belapur stretched to nearly an hour ldquoEver since the Navi Mumbai International Airport work gathered pace the flooding has become worserdquo said Shiv Shankar Suman vicepresident in a Bank and a resident of Delta Tower UlweAnother resident Krishnakant Mokal said ldquoThe government and CIDCO are investing in major infrastructure projects around the upcoming airport but the longpending issue of monsoon waterlogging has never received the attention it deserves Development should not come at the cost of basic civic infrastructurerdquoElectrocuted duo rushed to DY HospTwo students of Nerulrsquos Peoplersquos Education Society College Ujwala Laxman Wagh and Shubhangi Subhash Walkhande suffered electric shocks while walking through a waterlogged stretch beneath the LP Bridge A passerby immediately rescued the duo and rushed them to DY Patil Hospital They were later shifted to Fortis Hospital in Vashi where they were admitted to the ICUMaharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited in a statement said a preliminary inspection revealed that the insulation of one of the cables connected to an NMMC streetlight electricity connection had snapped Officials suspect rainwater came into contact with the cable energising the surrounding water Following the incident MSEDCL officials disconnected the supply to the circuitThe utility clarified that the streetlight connection and the damaged outgoing cable belong to and are maintained by the civic body and that the latterrsquos electrical department will carry out an investigation NMMC Mayor Sujata Patil who visited the students said ldquoTheir health is our immediate priority We have directed officials to conduct a thorough inquiryrdquoTurbhe police station stays dryA twowheeler rider navigates a waterlogged at Nehru Nagar in Kurla PICSHADAB KHANUnlike previous years Turbhe police station remained free of flooding despite the heavy downpour A senior police officer said a highcapacity dewatering pump was activated as soon as water began accumulating near the premises preventing floodwater from entering the stationpopcorn number45 descNo of locations where trees fell between 8 am and 6 pm on Wed classDefault