Mumbai rains: Usual woes for city, but lake levels rise – Times of India

Mumbai: The city and its suburbs received over 200mm rainfall in 36 hours ending Tuesday afternoon as the very wet spell that started almost a week ago, with some tapering off during the weekend, continued, replenishing the lakes supplying Mumbai, but also bringing waterlogging woes.
After the June deficit, Mumbai has received 69% of its average July rain in just five days. The downpour will continue, with IMD issuing an orange alert (extremely heavy rain) for Mumbai and Thane for Thursday and Friday. Showers in the catchment areas of the seven lakes meant water stocks for the city have risen 6% in one week alone to 15%.
However, the downpour also led to potholes and flooding, triggering traffic woes, and tree falls, including one outside new CM Eknath Shinde’s Thane’s house. Traffic had to be stopped at places like the Andheri and Khar subways and Sion road, while vehicles crawled due to waterlogging at several places like Matunga, Hindmata, Santacruz station, outside Sahara Star in Vile Parle, Dadar TT, and Chembur.
The torrential Tuesday rain saw many areas in the city’s suburbs receive over 100mm rainfall in less than 10 hours. Bandra recorded 139mm, Marol 136mm, Chembur 145mm, Vikrohli 164mm and Ghatkopar 138mm between 8am-5pm on Tuesday.
Coming on the back of similar heavy showers on Monday, it led to severe waterlogging in low-lying areas, disrupting traffic and normal life. Matunga, Hindmata, King’s Circle and Gandhi Market got flooded, but traffic at Gandhi Market did not stop, unlike earlier, after the BMC constructed underground water tanks in the area. Sion resident R Sridhar said Gandhi Market roads did get waterlogged, but “the water drained off very quickly and traffic along the road, although restricted to a few lanes, kept moving throughout”.
Mumbai police deployed additional personnel to guide harassed motorists and kept tweeting updates about diversions and flooded areas. Andheri and Khar subways, key east-west arteries, were closed for several hours. In Andheri, the road went under 3.5ft water and traffic was diverted to S V Road via Gokhale Bridge junction.
Sion Road too was under 1.5ft water near Sadhana High School and had to be closed. Traffic was diverted through Sion junction, said police. Slow traffic movement was reported at Santacruz station, Mankhurd station and Dadar TT owing to over 1ft waterlogging. Potholes inconvenienced motorists on the Western Express Highway, slowing down south-bound vehicular movement near Reliance Energy, Vakola.
Traffic was also crawling at Tembi Bridge in Chembur, Sakar Panchayat Chowk in Wadala, near Sahara Star Hotel at Vile Parle, Andheri market and Parel TT due to waterlogging. An accident on the Mankhurd railway bridge during the downpour severely impacted south-bound traffic. Traffic police personnel were rushed to ease congestion.
Besides waterlogging, Thane city, which received 60mm heavy rainfall since Tuesday morning, saw several mishaps, including tree fall and mudslides. As many as nine trees, including a huge one near the residence of new chief minister Eknath Shinde along the Eastern Express Highway, fell. One at the Tulisdham area damaged power lines, triggering power cuts in neighbouring areas, said Avinash Sawant, chief of the regional disaster management cell at Thane. Low-lying areas in Thane station area and parts of Ghodbunder also reported waterlogging.
Vehicular traffic was briefly affected on the Mumbra bypass highway on Tuesday morning after a small stretch witnessed mudslide from the adjoining hillocks on the Panvel-to-Thane lane. A team of earthmovers was deployed that cleared the slush accumulated on the driveway, said officials.
In Navi Mumbai, motorists were inconvenienced as fresh potholes opened up on many roads. Over a dozen tree falls were reported in both Navi Mumbai and Panvel. The stretch from Killa Gaothan junction to Ulwe was under knee-deep water, forcing motorists to crawl. Navi Mumbai received over 200mm rainfall in the 24 hours ending 8am on Tuesday, including 108mm from 8am to 8pm on Tuesday.
Poor visibility through the day forced motorists to drive cautiously, leading to traffic snarls at some places. The Mafco market, in a low-lying area, was flooded, compelling vegetable vendors to continue business in ankle-deep water. NMMC officials said 10 tree-fall cases have been registered in the last 24 hours in the civic body jurisdiction, besides two fire calls.
Nerul node recorded the highest rainfall of 139mm from 8am to 8pm, followed by Vashi with 121mm. The lowest rainfall of 79mm was recorded in Airoli. Potholes disrupted traffic flow in areas like the industrial corridor of Taloja, the Trans Thane Creek belt and several internal nodal roads across the town.
(With inputs from B B Nayak and Manoj Badgeri)