Mumbai Rains 2020: Two dead as heavy showers lashes city and suburbs

Workers cut a fallen tree in Jogeshwari West. Pic/Anurag Ahire

Just a day of heavy rainfall has brought Mumbai back to its knees with massive waterlogging across the city, with two deaths in house collapse incidents and injuries from tree falls. A house collapse in Santacruz led to the death of two people, who had fallen into the nullah next to their residence. They were rushed to the nearest hospital but were later declared dead.

According to civic officials, the incident happened in a chawl, located next to a nullah, around 11 am on Tuesday. When the retaining wall collapsed, four people fell into the nullah. The locals managed to rescue three-year-old Shivanya Kakade. After the fire officials and NDRF reached the spot, they rescued one-and-a-half-year-old Jahnvi Kakade and 26-year-old Rekha Kakade and rushed them to the V N Desai hospital, but they were declared dead. Search is on for the fourth person.

Also Read: Mumbai Rains 2020: City can expect heavy showers in next 48 hours

Workers remove a fallen tree at Jogeshwari West. Pic/Anurag Ahire

Heavy rain led to waterlogging in several areas and many people complained of water entering their homes. There were around 100 tree fall complaints and two people were injured in one incident. Twenty-seven incidents of short circuits were also reported but there were no casualties. Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal and guardian minister Aaditya Thackeray visited a number of waterlogged areas.

Apart from areas near railway stations in Kurla, Chunabhatti, Parel and Dadar, complaints of waterlogging came in from various residential areas. Rahul Pai, secretary of Jaybharat Society in Khar, said, "Our society is located on the edge of the railway tracks and rainwater from Pali Hill, Linking Road and S V Road goes into the storm water drain near the society and flows towards Bandra East. The drain is not wide enough and the railways don't clean the nullah either. We have been complaining about this issue but the problem persists."

People help push an auto on a waterlogged road near Chunabhatti station on Tuesday. Pic/Ashish Raje

Slums badly affected
Even some of the slum areas were badly affected. Leader of opposition and Congress corporator Ravi Raja said that these areas included the MHADA transit camp in Kokri Agar and slums in Indiranagar and Nehru Nagar. "People spent the whole day clearing water from their homes. The administration cannot always give the excuse of low-lying areas. These drainage issues have been there for a very long time," he added.

The water level in some areas was so high that the routes of BEST buses had to be diverted.

BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal visits Kranti Nagar and takes stock of the situation. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

100
No. of tree falls on Tuesday

Landslide on WEH affects traffic

The area on the WEH where the landslide happened was barricaded following the incident. Pic/Anurag Ahire

Heavy rainfall led to a landslide on the Western Express Highway (WEH) near Kandivli. While no one was injured in the incident, the southbound road was shut for traffic till evening. A BMC official said, "Around 7 am on Tuesday, a portion of the hill along the highway came crashing down. A major tragedy was averted as there were fewer vehicles on the road at that time." Mayor Kishori Pednekar visited the site and instructed MMRDA officials to use safety nets on the stretch.

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