Shame old story: Another year gone by, Mumbai rains hold city to ransom

Just half a day's downpour is enough to paralyse the cosmopolis. Heavy rain threw the city's train, bus, taxi and autorickshaw services out of gear, bringing the sturdy Mumbaikars to their knees.

The island city recorded an average rainfall of 81.71 mm from 8 am-4 pm, while Bandra reported the highest average rainfall - 162.82 mm - in the suburbs. Kurla, Deonar, Andheri, Wadala, Worli, Matunga, Marol and Santacruz clocked more than 100 mm rainfall, according to the BMC. A 4.47-m-high tide at 2.05 pm threatened to make matters worse, prompting the BMC to press additional pumps into service from all pumping stations, including Britannia.

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As water flooded the railways tracks at the Sion station, commuters were forced to think of other ways to get by. Pics/Datta Kumbhar

An unoccupied, dilapidated four-storey building collapsed in Khar at 10 am, but no casualty was reported.

Besides, minor incidents of short circuit and a mudslip in Worli Koliwada were reported.

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The monsoon mayhem can turn even complete strangers into friends. Commuters held hands to cross King's Circle and waded through a flooded Parel yesterday

Trains crawl
The public transport system began to crumble as soon as the day began. The Central Railway (CR) bore the brunt of the heavy rain, with 6-8 inches of water stagnating on the tracks, said Narendra Patil, chief PRO, CR. Trains slowed down to a crawl and many services were even cancelled, primarily from 11 am-3 pm.

The Western Railway was comparatively spared, with few disruption in services. "We cancelled barely 10 services [on WR]. There was a minor waterlogging problem at Mahim and Bandra, but it was sorted by the afternoon," said a
WR official.

Roads no better
As mayhem ensued, hordes of railway commuters spilled onto the roads, but their problems had only just begun.

Many autorickshaw and taxi drivers turned down fares owing to waterlogged roads. "Around 20% autorickshaws didn't ply, but the situation got better by the afternoon," said Shashank Rao, president of the Mumbai Autorickshawmen's Union. Some 50% of the black-and-yellow taxis stayed off the roads as well. As the roads got flooded, many BEST buses had to be diverted, too.

The rain battered the already worn-out roads further. Huge traffic snarls were reported on pothole-ridden arterial roads in the western suburbs, including the Western Express Highway (WEH) stretch between Dahisar and Bandra, the south-bound arm of the WEH near Samata Nagar, opposite Hub Mall in Goregaon, between JVLR and Jog flyover, and SV Road between Andheri and Bandra. All of the PWD's repairs on the WEH, initiated last week, were washed away.

In the eastern corridor, waterlogging at King's Circle threw traffic into chaos, leading to snarls all along Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Road. Traffic below the 11.04-km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro line, too, was affected at several locations.

Flights delayed
Even flight services were affected - the season's first. Poor visibility forced four flights to take go-arounds and rain caused delays in ground operations. An airport official said all procedures prior to a take-off were delayed owing to the rain. "The ground operations staff of airlines as well as agencies ran behind schedule."

(Reported by Shashank Rao, Maleeva Rebello, Ranjeet Jadhav, Neha LM Tripathi, Pallavi Smart and Tanvi Deshpande)