Heavy rains continue in Mumbai, major areas of city waterlogged – Hindustan Times

Mumbai woke up to overcast skies on Friday as the heavy rainfall continued overnight, leaving several parts of the city waterlogged by the morning. Traffic took a hit, with buses being diverted on multiple routes. Trains, too, were reportedly running late due to waterlogged railway tracks on the harbour and the slow lines. In its daily weather update, the regional meteorological centre predicted that the torrential downpour will continue across parts of Mumbai and its suburbs over the next 24 hours.

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The heavy rainfall in Mumbai left the Gandhi Market area completely waterlogged by Friday morning, photos tweeted by the news agency ANI showed. Visuals from the Eastern Express Highway also showed the overnight heavy rains lashing parts of the city.

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Due to heavy rainfall and waterlogging on the slow line near Kurla-Vidyavihar, trains are running 20-25 minutes late. Slow line traffic between Kurla and Vidyavihar has been diverted on the fast line. Trains on the harbour line are also running 20-25 minutes late, while the trans-harbour line is running smoothly so far, the Central Railway informed in its latest hourly update.

Meanwhile, Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) buses have also been diverted in at least 10 routes across Mumbai, including Sion Road, Gandhi Market, Hindmata Cinema, and Wadala Bridge.

Heavy rains have been lashing Mumbai since Tuesday night, with several key stretches of roads completely inundated. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a yellow category alert for Mumbai on Thursday and Friday, predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places, and a green alert for Saturday and Sunday.

Heavy rainfall in Mumbai always carries the possibility of flooding low-lying areas in the city, as well as a potential disruption to electricity supply, water services, and local traffic. However, the met department said that the intensity of rainfall is likely to reduce soon, with light to moderate showers in isolated areas.

Until 8:30am on Thursday, Mumbai received a total of 1291.8 mm of rain since June 1, which is about 48% in excess of the seasonal normal. In the past week itself, Mumbai received about 302mm of rain, which is 77% above the seasonal normal. A significant portion of the rainfall deficit for the first 14 days of July has been made up in the past week, though it is still -22% short of the normal for the period of 376mm, as per IMD’s rainfall information.

As per official forecasts, the maximum temperature over the next five days is expected to rise to 32 degrees Celsius (up from 30 degrees Celsius on Wednesday evening), and the minimum temperature will rise to 26 degrees Celsius — up from 24.6 degrees Celsius on Thursday morning.