Heavy rain in Mumbai and adjoining regions disrupted life for the second consecutive day on August 4, throwing train services off the track, disrupting air traffic and causing power outages in neighbouring Thane and Palghar districts.
Mumbai received 204 mm until August 4 morning, less than its neighbouring towns of Thane and Virar, but the third highest 24-hour August rainfall in a decade. This also marked the completion of total ‘normal’ rainfall for the season, with 2374.2 mm above the average seasonal rainfall of 2317.1 mm received between June and September.
Two electrocuted
Two persons died of electrocution in Santacruz and one was reported missing, feared drowned in Dharavi. A man in his mid-thirties was also feared to have drowned in the Phoolpada dam in Palghar district.
Over 400 people residing along Mithi river were moved to safety, while another 400 people were evacuated in Palghar district. Power supply was cut off in many areas of Thane and Palghar districts, besides many areas in Mumbai, as substations went under water.
Earlier in the day, teams of the Navy, the Air Force and the Army were requisitioned by the State government to rescue those stranded in Thane and Palghar. An IAF Mi-7 helicopter evacuated 58 people, including 16 children, and brought them to the Air Force Station at Thane. Two columns of the Army, consisting of 120 personnel, was sent to Thane district.
The Central Railway (CR) bore the brunt of the rains for the second day running as services across the Central Line and major sections of the Harbour Line were hit due to waterlogging. For over 12 hours, no train ran between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Thane, while suburban services between CSMT and Mankhurd on the Harbour Line were suspended due to acute flooding.
Nearly 7,000 passengers across 12 long distance trains that been regulated at various stations were provided with bus transportation to reach Mumbai. A Rajdhani Express bound for Madgaon in Goa stopped well-in-time before the mudslide near Panvel due to the quick thinking of the trains loco pilot and assistant loco pilot AV Rathore and Pawan Kumar Patel.
However, it took the railway authorities nearly 11 hours to clear the sections. As a consequence of the mudslide, Konkan Railway had to cancel 15 trains and divert/short terminate an equal number of trains which would have passed through that section.
With havy rains forecast for the next 48 hours, the Maharashtra government declared a holiday on August 5 in all schools and colleges in Mumbai city, Mumbai suburbs, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Raigad, Palghar, and Pune.
Rains accompanied by gusty winds, also lashed districts in western Maharashtra including Pune, Satara and Sangli, as well as Nashik in north Maharashtra throughout Sunday. Over 300 families dwelling in low-lying areas in Pune city, besides two hospitals, were moved to safer zones today by rescue teams owing to the discharge of massive quantities of water from the over-sated Khadakwasla, Pavana, Mulshi dams among others.
