Waterlogging led to traffic woes in various part of the city on Tuesday. (Photo: Ganesh Shirsekar)
Heavy showers, stretching almost for 10 hours, followed by intermittent rainfall triggered intense waterlogging in several parts of the city and a landslide that slowed down traffic on the Western Express Highways on Tuesday. At least two persons, including a one-and-a-half-year-old girl, died and another was hurt in a building collapse, while two boys were injured in tree fall incident, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials said.
The city recorded over 260 mm rainfall in 24 hours from 8.30 pm Monday. The downpour, officials said, slowed down around 6 am Tuesday.
According to civic officials, three children and their mother fell in the Vakola nullah when the upper portion of two houses at Agripada’s Trimurti Chawl, situated along the nullah, collapsed around 11.30 am on Tuesday following the incessant rain. While one of the children was rescued by local residents and two bodies were recovered by the authorities, the fire brigade and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel are jointly conducting searches for the third child, officials said. The deceased have been identified as Rekha Kakade (26) and her one-and-half-year-old daughter Janhvi. According to civic officials, three-year-old Shivani Kakade, who was rescued by the local residents, has been admitted to V N Desai hospital and is stated to be stable.
“High-speed wind and heavy rain led to the collapse of the upper floors of the house. At the time of the incident, the mother and her three daughters were inside the house. Her husband, Dinesh Kakade, is a BMC worker and was outside for work,†the local Shiv Sena corporator, Dinesh Kubal, said.
In another incident, two brothers — Adnan Shaikh (5) and Imran Shaikh (13) — were injured around 2 am on Tuesday in a tree fall incident in Chembur. Both the brothers have been admitted to Shatabdi Hospital in Govandi and their conditions are stable.
Meanwhile, several parts of the city, including Parel, Hindmata, Dadar, Chembur, Sion, Khar subway, Andheri subway, Malad subway, and Dahisar subway, remained under knee- to waist-deep water on Tuesday. According to the Disaster Management Cell, water entered houses in areas like Parel, Hindmata, Worli, Malad, and Kandivali following the heavy rainfall.
ISLAND CITY
Hindmata, Parel and Dadar saw severe waterlogging, with the water level rising up to waist height at several locations. Mahalaxmi and Race Course areas also remained inundated.
In Worli’s BDD Chawl, water entered into several houses on the ground floor, officials said. Parts of Worli also witnessed more than 12-hour power outage. “Since 6 am there is no electricity in our area. We called the BEST control room several times but to no avail,†Santosh Worlikar, a resident of Worli Koliwada, said. Similar complaints were reported from Narayan Pujari Nagar in the area.
Civic data shows that in the island city, the highest 329 mm rain was recorded in Dadar, following 300 mm in Worli. Overall, the island city received a maximum of 229 mm rainfall.
WESTERN SUBURBS
Around 7.30 am, a landslide occurred on Western Express Highway near the Times of India flyover in Kandivali. While no one was injured in the incident, it led to a disruption of traffic, especially vehicles moving towards Dahisar to Bandra, for several hours, officials said.
The water level in the Dahisar river also rose drastically, leading to waterlogging in adjoining areas. “The water level in Dahisar river started rising around 5 am and led to waterlogging in Anand Nagar, Shrikrishna Nagar, S V Road and other low-lying areas. However, no untoward incident was reported except a few tree fall cases,†former Shiv Sena corporator Abhishek Ghosalkar said. The water level started reducing around 9.30 am after the rain slowed down, officials said.
Mayor Kishori Pednekar inspected areas along Dahisar river and directed civic officials to strengthen retaining walls of the river. According to BMC data, Dahisar received 245 mm rain in 24 hours, starting from 8 pm on Monday. In all, the western suburbs recorded 193.5 mm rainfall.
EASTERN SUBURBS
The water level in the Mithi river rose following the heavy rain, however, residents were not evacuated from the low-lying areas as it remained below the danger mark, Assistant Municipal Commissioner of L ward (Kurla), Manish Valunje, said.
Other parts of the suburbs — Kurla, Chembur and Vikhroli — also witnessed waterlogging. Data from BMC’s weather stations shows that a maximum 253 mm rainfall was recorded in Chembur. However, the eastern part of the city witnessed the lowest rainfall of 179 mm as compared to the island city and western suburbs.
Public transport hit Suburban train operations were badly hit with waterlogging on tracks of both Central and Western Railway. Train operation on all lines, including Harbour and Mainline of CR and WR, was completely suspended until afternoon, officials said.
No trains were operated between Churchgate and Bandra on WR after the water level rose near Dadar and Prabhadevi areas. While on CR, flooding on the chronic waterlogging spots of Dadar, Parel, Sion, Kurla, Wadala and Chunabhatti led to the suspension of services between CSMT and Thane on the Mainline and Harbour lines. Only shuttle services were run between Vashi-Panvel and Thane, Kalyan and beyond.
According to railway officers, the high tide coupled with heavy rainfall prevented water from receding until late in the afternoon. It was only at 2.55 pm that the first train for Thane left from CSMT while an hour later the first train for Vashi left at 4.08 pm on the Harbour line.
While on WR, trains began departing from Churchgate at 12 pm on the slow line, the fast line was operational at 1.10 pm. Trains from Andheri started at 11.40 pm and Virar only at 12.45 pm after water on tracks had completely receded. Train operations in the evening remained smooth.
Chief PRO of CR, Shivaji Sutar said, “No trains were stuck in between stations.â€
The BEST, meanwhile, had begun re-routing its buses from Monday night with at least nine routes changed after water began accumulating in the flood-prone areas of Sion. As the rain continued till Tuesday morning, buses on as many as 150 routes had to be diverted with waterlogging reported on 33-odd locations in the city. Service on most of the routes were restored by 2 pm while some others around 4 pm Tuesday after the water receded completely.
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