Heavy rains coupled with a high tide of 4.95 metres hit the city on Tuesday, causing water-logging and traffic jams in many areas of the island city, along with a slight delay in railway services. As per data received by the Brrhanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), water-logging complaints were registered from the Hindmata Junction, Parel T T, Peddar Road, Reay Road, Tardeo and Mahalakshmi between 2 and 4 pm. The civic body has alerted the citizens of high tide over 4.7 meters till July 17. Until 8.30pm, Colaba received 127mm rainfall, while Santacruz received 78.2mm on Tuesday. Colaba’s 127mm on Tuesday is the seventh highest 24 hour rainfall in the past decade (between 2004 and 2013). The all-time record for highest rainfall in 24 hours was on July 27, 2005, at 944.2mm. India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast frequent rain and showers in the city and suburbs with heavy to very heavy rainfall in some areas for the next 24 hours. Traffic was also slow due to water logging. The Andheri Subway and Malad subway were closed due to water logging which caused problems to the commuters. Traffic was slow at the Haji Ali junction due to the pile-up till Wilson College, while the Haji Ali South Bound backlog was reported up to Worli Dairy. Parel TT south-bound road had a backlog up to Dadar TT. Traffic police diverted traffic to the Eastern freeway, P.D’Mello Road, RAK Road for south Mumbai. The police also asked commuters to avoid SV Road due to Angaraki Chaturthi. Suburban trains on the main line were delayed by 10 to 15 minutes, two harbour-bound trains and five main line services were canceled during peak hours. Until Tuesday morning, Colaba and Santacruz faced less rains, but IMD officials are confident that the deficiency will be covered. “Heavy rainfall is forecast for the next 24 hours as well and with such good rainfall, the deficiency in rainfall in Mumbai will be covered by Wednesday,” said K S Hosalikar, deputy director-general, meteorology, IMD Mumbai. mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com
