Mumbai rains: IMD predicts heavy showers to continue for 48 hours; western and central line trains run slightly delayed

As the southwest monsoon picked up momentum in Mumbai, bringing heavy showers that claimed three lives in the city and adjoining Thane, NDRF officials were put on high alert. Heavy rains lashed the metropolis and Thane district throughout the night and continued this morning, causing waterlogging at several places and slowing the movement of suburban trains, thus causing inconvenience to office-goers.Two persons were killed on Sunday evening when a tree fell on them near Metro Cinema in south Mumbai, said an official from the disaster management unit of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). A 13-year-old boy was killed and his parents were injured when an adjacent wall collapsed on their house at Wadol village in Ambernath taluka of Thane around 2.15 am on Monday, the district civic body's regional disaster management cell chief Santosh Kadam said.The district received 229.81 millimetres rain in the last 24 hours, Kadam added.Wadala wall collapseIn Mumbai, a huge part of a compound caved in at Antop Hill area in Wadala. Around 15 cars were damaged with some vehicles getting buried under the debris, an official of the BMC's disaster management cell said. ANI reported that a 37-year-old woman has been admitted to hospital in a critical condition after the wall of the building collapsed on Vidyalankar road in Wadala's Antop Hill, following heavy rain. An FIR has been registered against the builder in the case.In another incident, a 65-feet compound wall of a housing complex in Thane city collapsed this morning, crushing two cars and another vehicle, he said. On Monday evening a portion of the road caved in at Marine Lines, ANI reported.Political reactionsBJP leader Ashish Shelar said BMC workers were doing their best and de-flooding pumps are being used in waterlogged areas. However, Mumbai Congress leaders took to Twitter to express their anger at BMC. The Opposition called for action against BMC chief Ajoy Mehta and said he should be sacked.Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam also visited the site of wall collapse in Wadala and said, "The residents of Lloyd building in Wadala have repeatedly written letters to the assistant commissioner, but there has been no action. On the contrary, instead of reprimanding the builder, he has blamed the residents."Bad weather to continue for 48 hoursAccording to Moneycontrol, the meteorological department has issued an orange alert over the west coast which means heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected for the rest of June in Mumbai and adjoining areas.[caption id="attachment_4593561" align="alignleft" width="380"]

Mumbai received 231.4 mm rain in the last 24 hours till Monday afternoon. PTI[/caption]Mumbai received 231.4 mm rain in the last 24 hours, an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. "The Santacruz weather station recorded 231.4 millimetres rainfall in the last 24 hours. So much rainfall is categorised as extremely heavy showers," IMD Mumbai Director Ajay Kumar told PTI."This is the first extremely heavy rainfall recorded in Mumbai in the current season," he said. The rain intensity has gone up since Sunday afternoon and is expected to continue further, he said.Owing to the heavy showers, several parts of the city, like Dharavi, Sion, Matunga, Hindmata, Malad, Kurla, Andheri subway, Bhandup, Worli and Lower Parel, were flooded with water up to two to three feet, and vehicles got stuck in some places. According to Skymet weather, in 9 hours from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm on Monday, Dahanu recorded 143 millimetres of rain."Traffic has been diverted from Sion, King's circle, National College in Bandra, Siddharth Hospital in Goregaon, Chembur Phatak, Pratiksha Nagar in Sion, Milan Subway in Santacruz and Powai area of the city," a statement issued by civic body said. A container broke down on a bridge at suburban Vikhroli near Eastern Express Highway this morning, because of which vehicular movement in the area was slow, the Mumbai Police said.Local train services of the Central Railway (CR), Western Railway (WR) and on the Harbour Line corridor were running late by 5 to 10 minutes, officials said."There is some water accumulation at Sion due to continuous rains but trains are running on all three lines of the Central Railway (main line, harbour and trans-harbour) with a slight delay of 5 to 7 minutes," CR Chief Public Relations Officer Sunil Udasi said.The suburban main line of CR runs from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) to Karjat, Khopoli and Kasara, the Harbour Line runs from CSMT to Panvel and the Trans-Harbour Line is from Thane to Vashi and Panvel.The Western Railway in a tweet said, "WR Suburban trains are running with no disruption. There is a slight delay due to low visibility in some areas due to rains."Certain diversions were made due to water-logging on few routes of bus services of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), an official said.The IMD has predicted heavy-to-very heavy rain in the city in the next 24 to 48 hours."These heavy showers are due to a cyclonic circulation over north Konkan and adjoining south Gujarat and another circulation in the Bay of Bengal. We expect the rain activity to increase in the coming week, with scattered heavy to very heavy rain on 27 and 28 Junein parts of north Konkan, including Mumbai," an IMD official said.With inputs from PTI