August 29: In Mumbai, torrential rain accompanied by strong winds pummelled the metropolis today, disrupting rail, road and air services, uprooting trees and swamping homes. People’s woes were compounded by the high tide that prevented natural drainage of water into the sea.
Thousands of vehicles were stranded on arterial roads of the city as traffic crawled at snail’s pace on important roads including the Eastern and Western Express Highway, Sion-Panvel highway and LBS Marg. Trains were running late or stopped on all three suburban railway lines that includes Central, North and Harbour lines due to tracks getting submerged. Aircrafts have stopped landing at the city airport after 4 pm but were taking off. Flight operations at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport saw delay and disruptions since morning.
Met department said, Mumbai has recorded 65 mm rain in just three hours, adding that it was the heaviest downpour since 2005 deluge. Met has also forecast very heavy rainfall in next 24 hours. Schools and colleges in the city have been closed for tomorrow.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis visited the State Disaster Management Control room and took stock of the situation. He said the situation is being monitored closely and necessary advisories would be issued from time to time.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured all possible support to Maharashtra in mitigating the situation due to heavy rains in different parts of the state. In a tweet, Mr Modi said, he spoke to Maharashtra Chief Minister on the situation arising due to incessant rain.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh assured the Maharashtra Chief Minister of all possible help from the Centre. He said the NDRF teams have already reached Mumbai for rescue and relief operations. (AIR News)
