For the third time in ten days, heavy rains disrupted normal life in Mumbai on Tuesday. Earlier, heavy rains had paralysed the city on July 4 and 8, causing great hardship to office-goers and students. Traffic movement on roads, railways and airports was disrupted with the city recording 98 mm rainfall on Tuesday, while the suburbs notched 123 mm of rainfall. The city?s meteorological department has forecast heavy to very heavy rains accompanied by strong gusty winds in the city over the next 48 hours.
A spokesperson for Mumbai Airport said that all incoming flights were delayed by 15-20 minutes on account of poor visibility (about 800 metre) and due to gusty winds over the city on Tuesday. While traffic jams hit office-goers on the two highways serving the city and on other important roads, trains on the western, central and harbour railway lines were running 15-25 minutes behind schedule.
Water logging was reported from many low-lying areas like Dadar, Khar, Santacruz, Goregaon, Malad, Kandivli, Andheri, Jogeshwari (western suburbs), Byculla, Mazagaon, Sion, Wadala, Vikhroli and Ghatkopar (all eastern suburbs).
As a precautionary measure, several schools in the city and suburbs declared a holiday. Ironically, water level at the city?s Mithi river in the suburbs rose above the danger mark. Also, some families residing in low lying areas in central suburbs were evacuated on the possibility of a landslide. Also, there was a high tide at around 4.15 pm.