Incessant overnight rains have thrown many parts of Mumbai out of gear on Sunday, with the city witnessing severe water logging, disruption of local train services and vehicular traffic. According to reports, 11 people have been killed after a wall collapsed on some shanties in Chembur's Bharat Nagar area due to a landslide, the National Disaster Response Force has said. Rainwater entered many homes of residents in Hanuman Nagar, Kandivali East area and well as Borivali area of Mumbai. Three hutment dwellers were killed and two others injured as five shanties in Vikhroli area collapsed at 2.30 am after a landslide following the heavy rains.
The rain fury reminded some Mumbaikars of the 24-hour rainfall figure of 944 mm on July 26, 2005. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for Mumbai in the backdrop of heavy rains, a BMC official said. Three NDRF teams are being sent from Pune to Mumbai in view of the heavy rains.
Alerts by the IMD are colour-coded from green to red. A 'green' alert stands for 'no warning': no action needs to be taken by the authorities, and the forecast is of light to moderate rain. A 'red' alert stands for "warning", and asks authorities to "take action". An ‘orange' alert indicates that the authorities are expected to be prepared.
A sudden change in climatic conditions led to Mumbai witnessing over 100 mm rainfall in six hours, the IMD said in an early morning bulletin. It also changed the rain forecast for the city from orange to red alert. The IMD said that till 6.30 am on Sunday, Mumbai and adjoining areas received over 120 mm rainfall in preceding 12 hours.
#HeavyRains lash out Mumbai once again without warning.Trains services affected, roads waterlogged, land slide in eastern suburb killed 11 people atleast. Almost more than 200mm rain in just few hours. Rain has stopped and tide is receding now & so is waterlogging #MumbaiRains pic.twitter.com/9YRhvetvtF
— Sahil Joshi (@sahiljoshii) July 18, 2021
Mumbai would receive heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places, the IMD said. Extremely heavy rainfall means precipitation of more than 204.5 mm in 24 hours, while heavy rainfall ranges between 115.6 mm to 204.4 mm rainfall, as per the IMD. The bulletin issued at 3 am said IMD recorded 213 mm rainfall at Santacruz, 197.5 mm at Bandra and 174 mm at Colaba in the city.
Rainwater enters Mumbai's Borivali east area following a heavy downpour this morning.#MumbaiRains pic.twitter.com/9MEBTRf8AW
— TOI Mumbai (@TOIMumbai) July 18, 2021
The suburban train services on both Central Railway and Western Railway in the financial capital were suspended due to water logging in the tracks due to the overnight heavy downpour, railway officials said.
Following the heavy rains, Western Railway announced suspension of suburban services due to water logging at "multiple locations."
"@WesternRly Currently No local train services are running in both UP and DN direction till further notice due to water logging at multiple locations," divisional railway manager of Western Railway's Mumbai division tweeted.
As per the nowcast warning issued at 0030 Hrs by IMD Mumbai, intense to very intense spells of rain very likely to occur at isolated places in the districts of Mumbai during next 3 hours #MyBMCMonsoonUpdate #MumbaiRains #WeatherUpdate
— माझी Mumbai, आपली BMC (@mybmc) July 17, 2021
Central Railway said that due to water logging in tracks at Dadar, Parel, Matunga, Kurla, Sion, Bhandup and other locations, train services on main line were suspended between CSMT and Thane.
"CSMT to Vashi services, including Bandra/Goregaon suburban services, are also not working," said Shivaji Sutar, chief spokesperson of Central Railway.
Several long distance trains on both Central railway and Western Railway were affected due to the flooded tracks.
Before the pandemic, both Central Railway and Western Railway used to ferry over 75 lakh commuters daily on their over 3000 suburban services. The suburban services during the pandemic are restricted to emergency services staff and government employees.