409mm in just 1.5 days: Mumbai crippled, 1 dead, 400 evacuated

MUMBAI: Tuesday's heavy rain, which justified IMD's red alert, crippled Mumbai more than Monday's, with 400 residents from low-lying areas around Mithi river evacuated after water levels rose, several roads waterlogged, 11 flights diverted to other airports and 24 arriving flights forced to do a 'go-around'. One person was electrocuted after coming into contact with a live wire in Bhandup.

The civic holiday for schools and lighter traffic in the city helped limit casualties.

This has become Mumbai's wettest Aug in five years. Several areas got over 300mm of rain in 24 hours with Chincholi in Malad reporting 361mm. During the five-day wet spell (from 8.30am on Aug 15 to 8.30pm on Tuesday), Mumbai received 837.3mm, with three of the five days logging close to or over 200mm each. Showers are likely to continue Wednesday, with IMD issuing orange alert for Mumbai; relief is expected from Thursday when a yellow alert is indicated.

Opposite Oberoi Mall in Goregaon Tuesday, some people were seen taking a swim in floodwaters. Residents of landslide-prone Surya Nagar in Vikhroli and Bhandup were moved to nearby SRA buildings.

In Bhandup, a man was electrocuted after coming into contact with a live wire at LBS Marg. Police cordoned off the area and switched off power supply to prevent more casualties. They said an overhead wire had fallen into the water and sparks were seen.

Poisar subway and Malad subway got waterlogged and were closed for traffic. At Malad, motorists were diverted to MTNL Junction. Traffic movement was slow due to waterlogging at Hindmata, Dadar TT, Trombay, Maharashtra Nagar subway, Antop Hill, Sardar Nagar, Pratiksha Nagar, Gandhi market, and Bhoiwada. Also, Kurla, Wadala, Sewri and Byculla witnessed road disruptions.

Central Railway commuters faced hardships as waterlogging in Sion-Kurla-Chunabhatti led to suspension of the harbour line. Western Railway trains plied with delays.

Amid morning's high tide, 400 residents from low-lying areas around Mithi were evacuated as water level rose to 3.9m, close to the river's danger mark of 4.2m. Vikhroli flyover, which opened on June 14 at a cost of Rs 85 crore, was waterlogged. Reports arrived of rain leakage at BKC metro station, but Metro 3 officials said it was a "minor leakage" at one part of the station and did not impact train services which ran uninterrupted.

In one of the record number of diversions by BEST in recent years, 135 bus routes were diverted due to waterlogging on roads. Breakdowns were reported too.

Flight operations suffered partially. From Monday midnight to 7pm Tuesday, 11 flights were diverted to other airports, while 24 arriving flights were forced to abort landing and climb to make a second attempt at touch-down. The cascading delays hit flight schedules through the day, and worst hit were passengers booked on evening flights, with arrivals and departures delayed by an hour.