Heavy rain back in Mumbai, commuters stranded for hours

Mumbai on Thursday received over 128 mm of rainfall, with the island city receiving 25.05 mm. While the western suburbs received 53.21 mm of rainfall, the eastern suburbs witnessed 49.86 mm, according to BMC data.

Heavy rain on Thursday evening led to waterlogging in several parts of Mumbai, bringing traffic on the Western Express Highway (WEH) to a standstill and delaying several trains on the Central Railway.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted heavy rainfall for Mumbai, along with heavy rainfall accompanied by thunderstorm for Raigad, Palghar and Thane districts, with wind speed of 40 to 50 on Friday. At 67.81 mm, the highest amount of rainfall was received in N ward (Ghatkopar) in eastern suburbs. The rain started around 4.30 pm in several parts of Mumbai, with the downpour getting intense between 5 pm and 6 pm, leading to some spots getting more than 50 mm in the one-hour period, an official said. “The area under S ward received 51 mm rainfall between 5 pm and 6 pm, while F South ward got 35 mm. The area near the Building Proposal office received 45 mm. The area around Bhandup Complex got 42 mm and Gavanpada in Mulund (East) witnessed 34 mm rainfall,” he added.

Meanwhile, vehicular traffic on the arterial WEH came to a standstill with several motorists, who were stuck in traffic, alerting the Mumbai traffic police on the latter’s Twitter handle.

The entire stretch from Bandra up till Dahisar on the northbound stretch of WEH and the stretch between Vile Parle to Goregaon on southbound stretch saw heavy traffic. Motorists were stuck in the traffic for hours. People stuck at Bisleri junction, MIDC road, Chakala, Garware signal and Andheri flyover were stuck for over an hour.

Owing to the rainfall, trains on the Central Railway (CR) suburban main line were running late, resulting in trains from CSMT towards Kalyan, Dombivli, Kasara, Badlapur and Karjat running late. This also led to heavy rush on all other stations, including Ghatkopar, Kurla and Thane.

According to CR Chief Public Relation Officer Shivaji Sutar, the trains are running late by 25-30 minutes on an average. The cause of the delay is heavy traffic on tracks.

The problem was compounded by a Kasara-bound goods train from Kalyan uncoupling between Ambivali and Titwala stations at 6.20 pm. The problem was rectified and the train resumed its journey at 6.45 pm, a CR official said.

With trains running late, heavy rush was witnessed in BEST buses. In fact, commuters were at the receiving end of private cab service providers like Ola and Uber hiking charges exorbitantly. For instance, to travel between Ghatkopar and Badlapur, Uber sought between Rs 2,000-2,500.